Debts
by syntheticstarburst
Summary: At some point, Umiko became convinced that the Will of Fire was just the shinobi world's most elaborate and continuous guilt trip. Not that she minded all that much. (Semi-SI OC, begins around the period of the Second Shinobi World War)
1. Prologue

Arata was not a pious man. He cursed the gods as easily as he drank, he drank as often as he gambled, and he gambled as recklessly as he sailed his reliable old fishing boat.

All the same, the proud, heavily-built, and near-constantly glowering fisherman found himself kneeling in front of an altar the moment his wife went into labor, his cracked hands clasped together in prayer and his face firmly facing the ground. It had rained recently—mud seeped into his bare knees and toes as he prayed, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

"Oh, esteemed kamis of fortune and childbirth! If you exist, please take pity on me," the fisherman muttered as solemnly as he could, sweat running down his tanned forehead. The sun's rays were harsh on his skin. "And if not me, at least show mercy to Kairi and our child—"

"ARATA! QUIT YOUR SHIT AND GET YOUR ASS INSIDE!"

Arata felt his eye twitch. Kizu, his neighbor, fellow fisherman, and closest friend had yelled at him from inside his own home. The shameless fucker had invited himself in as soon as he heard the news. He grit his teeth.

"FUCK OFF!" he yelled in reply. "I AIN'T STOPPING UNTIL IT'S OVER!"

"THEN _BOY_ DO I HAVE NEWS FOR YOU!"

Arata got up and ran.

* * *

Five minutes, several doors slammed open, and a good amount more yelling followed by furious hushing later, Arata knelt by the side of his wife's bed. The village midwife—what was her name again, maybe Ami? Well, she had already bid the couple farewell, her duty having come to a close. And so, the newly-grown family finally had some privacy for themselves.

"Look, dear…" Kairi whispered, clutching the towel-swaddled infant to her chest. The pale-faced woman looked at her husband with heavy-lidded eyes and a weak yet sincere smile. "Aren't these your eyes?"

Indeed, the child had calmed down shortly after being born and now stared blankly at her father, her eyes clearly carrying the same shade of deep gray as his own. Tears still dotted her fair-skinned face.

Arata snorted. "Maybe, but that sure is your hair," he replied, brushing his hand through the small tuft crowning his daughter's head. At a glance, her hair seemed to be purely dark brown, yet a closer inspection revealed it to be a faintly deep auburn. It perfectly matched his wife's long locks, which only displayed its true colors through bright sunlight or a closer look. He found himself surprised when the child suddenly grabbed onto his hand and giggled.

Kairi let out a soft laugh. "It seems like she's already fond of you."

Arata could only slowly smile wider in response. He watched his daughter cheerfully tug at his wrist. Her hand could barely fit around it, but she wore a sunny, satisfied smile all the same. It honestly amazed him. How was his little girl so energetic, despite having lived for only several minutes so far?

He could almost feel his heart melting.

The tender moment was almost immediately interrupted as Kizu, having slipped in unnoticed, shamelessly cleared his throat from the side of the room. "So," the lanky, lean-figured man began as Arata glared at him. "Got any ideas for a name?"

"Hmm…" Kairi furrowed her eyebrows in thought. "How about...Umiko?"

Arata turned his glare from Kizu to her. "Bit on the nose, isn't it? ' _Child of the sea_ '?" he grumbled.

"To be fair, it was my grandmother's name...unless you have a better suggestion, beloved?"

The fisherman sighed. "No."

"Then her name will be Umiko."

Arata huffed.

"Well…" Kizu grinned, brushing his unkept hair from his face. " _I_ think Umiko is a great name—"

"Drop dead, ass-kisser."

"Arata, not in front of our daughter!"

And now Kairi was mad at him again. Oh well. At least with Umiko born, it should be smooth sailing from here on out.

* * *

"PAPA, PAPA! LOOK AT ME!"

"UMIKO, GET DOWN FROM THERE OR YOU'RE GROUNDED FOR TWO WEEKS!"

It had been a terrible mistake for Arata to bring Umiko along with him to go fishing again. She had only just turned four years old, and yet here she was, already a little terror. How could the little brat have so much energy at the crack of dawn? How the hell did she manage to climb the foremast of his _hacchoro_ in the minute that he turned his eyes away from her?!

"Relax, old man. She'll come down when we need her to." Kizu gleefully clapped his back before moving to untie the rigging holding down the boat's middle sail. Other crew members handled their tasks from opposite ends of the boat, preparing the triple-masted boat for departure. The sun steadily rose from the east, illuminating the waves and the wooden deck of his ship, as well as the empty dock that it was currently tied to. It was a beautiful morning.

"We're both thirty, idiot. And that isn't the point," he growled before returning his attention to his beaming toddler once more.

The little brat was actually _giggling_ in the face of his anger, her short hair swaying in the breeze. "I'M TALLER THAN YOU NOW!" she announced triumphantly while hanging from the mast, the brightening sky serving as a vivid backdrop to her antics. Despite not being able to see her face clearly with the distance between them, Arata was sure that her eyes were twinkling with mischief, as they usually were when she pulled shit like this.

The broad-shouldered fisherman sighed as he fiddled with the compass in his pocket—even if he didn't really need one, being simply a fisherman, it was one of the first gifts Kairi had ever given to him. It reassured him, and so he never left anywhere without it. "She's going to hurt herself one day..." he mumbled to himself.

"I already told you to relax," Kizu said, releasing his hold on the ropes and letting the sail free before turning his attention to another set. The skinny fisherman smiled his ever-present grin as he worked. "That clever kid of yours can take care of herself with how quickly she's growin.'"

"That's true," Arata grudgingly admitted. Umiko soaked up information like a sponge. From learning to walk at as early as six months old, to speaking clumsy but full-on sentences at a year old, to even being able to read at two years of age, Umiko was a startlingly fast learner. An unsettlingly fast learner, in fact. It was the only reason why Arata was _somewhat_ comfortable with bringing her along during their fishing trips, in spite of Umiko only being four years old. His daughter was almost unnaturally mature.

And then Umiko pulled crap like this from time to time, reminding him that his daughter, while gifted, was still very much a child.

"Ha!" Kizu exclaimed, jolting Arata out of his thoughts. "I think that's the last of it!"

"Sure is, boss!" a crewmember called out from the other side.

"Alright, then. UMIKO, GET DOWN! WE'RE SETTING SAIL!"

"OKAY!"

"Why does she listen to _you_ more than _me_?" Arata grumbled even as he held his arms open in wait. As Umiko, with a cheery laugh on her lips, slid down the mast and jumped straight into her father's embrace, Arata still couldn't help but smile.

His good cheer continued as, throughout the rest of the trip, and despite running around the ship to study how each of his men fulfilled their seafaring duties, Umiko never strayed too far from his side.

* * *

Kairi carefully chopped the cabbage before adding it to the boiling pot on the stove. Growing children needed fresh vegetables to stay healthy, after all—and it wouldn't do for Umiko to lack a proper nutrition. She glanced out the window of their simple wooden home. The light was slowly fading. It would be time for dinner soon, and her husband and child should be returning home in roughly an hour.

Or now, she supposed, hearing the telltale thumping of scrambling footsteps before Umiko ran straight into the kitchen.

" _Mamaaaaaaaa!_ " the four-year old girl yelled as she hugged her from behind.

Chuckling, Kairi set down her knife before affectionately rubbing her head. "Hello, little one. How was your day?"

The little girl beamed before hugging her tighter. "I saw a bunch of weird people!"

"Oh?" Kairi smiled indulgently. "What kind of weird people?"

"Magic weird people!"

She blinked. "Magic?"

"Yeah!" Umiko frowned, a somewhat puzzled expression appearing on her face. "They had metal headbands and stuff and they ran really funny but really fast! I saw some of them do magic tricks—like one started glowing for a bit then another breathed fire then another took out a scroll and there was a bunch of smoke and poof came out a bunch of stuff and one was even a little kid like me and I wanted to go talk to her but Uncle Kizu stopped me and said they were busy but I wanted to play since there's no other kids around here and I'm always bored and she looked sca—"

"Shh, slow down, dear," Kairi laughed. There was quite a lot to unpack in her daughter's ramblings. "You're speaking too quickly," she chided, returning some of her attention to her pot of soup.

"Okay, mama," Umiko shrugged as she watched her mother begin to slice some carrots. "But they were being all quick and mysterious-looking too—they only bought some food and then left on a boat right away! It was like they were in a hurry or something…" The girl frowned once more, scrunching her nose. "It's all really suspicious!"

"Hm..well, those 'magic weird people' you saw today were ninjas, little one."

Now Umiko blinked. "Ninjas?"

Kairi nodded, continuing her work. "Ninjas are people who...well, use ' _magic'_ and other special skills to help the people of the country, as well as protect it from other ninja from other lands."

"Really? How come we never see them?"

"We don't usually ask them for their help over here in Kagayaku Village; we try to solve our problems on our own. Also, the group you saw today were probably ninjas from the only shinobi village of this land, Uzushiogakure. All shinobi who live in the Land of Whirlpools come from there."

"Oh, okay." Umiko scratched the back of her head. "I feel like I've heard this somewhere before…"

"Maybe in another one of your dreams, dear?" Kairi wouldn't be surprised.

"...is that bad, mama?"

"Of course not, although your mind seems to come up with strange ideas while you're asleep," Kairi teased. "What were your ideas for nation names again?"

" _Hey_! Don't make fun of them; they at least _sound_ way better than what we've got right now!"

"America, Canada, Russia, China…" Kairi listed down what she remembered from one of Umiko's previous tirades.

Umiko pouted. "Well, 'Land of Whirlpools' is still a dumb name! It's like naming other stuff things like 'house on beach,' or 'beach of fishes!' It's all so _obvious_! Maybe you'd even name someone 'child of se—wait." Umiko's face froze. "...huh."

Kairi held in her laughter as well as she could. ' _She really is her father's daughter_ ,' she internally mused, before steeling herself and speaking once more. "Now," she said sternly. "What did I say before about using the word 'dumb'?"

"...it's a mean word."

"And?"

"I shouldn't use it." Umiko blushed and stared to the side. "Sorry, mama."

"It's okay, just don't do it again," she replied. "Now, could you help me set the table? The soup is almost done."

"Yuck, _soup_?!"

Kairi sighed as her daughter began to loudly rant about the horrors of soup, even as she dutifully reached for the utensils in their kitchen drawer and left for their small dining area. Now alone, the housewife was left to meditate on Umiko's previous words.

She was right about how strange her encounter was. It was well-known, even among the common citizens of the Land of Whirlpools, that the rare visible group of ninjas usually served as a diplomatic envoy to other nations. So why would an _undisguised_ group of ninjas depart from a simple fishing village instead of one of the island's major harbors?

* * *

"So, the war's getting worse?" Kizu asked. The village's sole tavern was quiet at this time of the night, with most of its regulars having retired to bed already. He liked it that way. It gave the palm wood cabin's snug, already comfortable atmosphere a more homey feeling.

The bartender—Tetsu, a gruff but accommodating middle-aged fellow—nodded. He was a tall and thin man, though frailer than himself. Made sense, considering the differences between their jobs. "More and more ninja are pouring out of Uzushio like there's no tomorrow. Heard some talk about the enemies pushing on the Leaf's borders."

The lanky fisherman scowled, tightening his grip on his mug of beer. He wasn't sure whether he wanted to take a swig or chuck it across the room. "Wonderful," he muttered under his breath. " _More_ skyrocketing prices."

"Heh, chin up," Tetsu replied, polishing a glass. "The village'll get through this, like it always does. We're used to war."

"Sayin' that like it's a good thing…" Kizu snorted as he scratched at his side. "Well, thanks, I guess."

"No problem. A pessimistic guy like you needs a pick me up now and then, it's fine." Tetsu grinned. "Say, how bout' another—"

"Nah," Kizu interjected, the corners of his lips twitching upwards. "Gotta save my ryo, after all. Nice try."

The skinny bartender just laughed. Asshole. Well, if the guy was feeling so helpful…

"Say," he said, propping his head up with his arm. "You wouldn't happen to know about any decent sleeping meds, would ya?"

Tetsu smirked. "Well, a good drink—"

"For kids."

Kizu snickered as the bartender frowned. "I'm serious, okay?" he said before Tetsu could start telling him off. "Arata and Kairi's kid has been havin' a hard time getting sleep. Something about gettin' nightmares all the time."

Tetsu's expression eased into one of contemplation. "Wasn't their kid always a bit of a dreamer, though?"

"Oh, yeah—even til' now. I swear, Umiko comes up with the _weirdest_ shit. I'm honestly getting kinda worried, she's never complained about nightmares before…"

"You sure you bunch aren't just overreacting?"

"She hasn't gotten a proper wink of sleep for two weeks straight."

Tetsu breathed in quickly, setting down his glass and his polishing rag. "Damn."

"Yeah. Kid's looking like a zombie all the time, I swear. Kairi's at her wit's end, and Arata won't stop staring into the distance like some kind of shinobi war vet during our trips."

"Hm…" The bartender scratched at his graying beard. "Well, I'll ask my wife if she still has some of her poppy draught left in her stock. If she doesn't, just give her a few days to prepare some and we'll have a new batch ready. It's usually used as a painkiller, but I think it should ease the kid's sleep just fine."

Kizu let out a sigh of relief. "Thanks, pal. How much ryo do I owe you?"

The bartender waved his hand. "Eh, this'll be on the house. You spend enough on my liquor, anyway."

"Tch, I don't drink _that_ much..."

* * *

 _It was pitch black in the classroom—Lynn couldn't see shit. Good, hopefully that meant the other assholes couldn't see her in here either._

 _The eleven-year old sighed at herself. She knew it was a terrible idea to piss them off again, especially so soon after last time. But for_ **fuck's** _sake, you'd think that a typical bunch of morons would find new material after a few weeks—seriously, trying to pick on her for being a bloody "chink" again and again? She wasn't even Chinese in the first place!_

 _...not that their name-calling hadn't worked or anything._

 _Still, punching a guy in the face right in front of his minions and bolting wasn't a very good idea, even though she thought her innocent comment about the size of his brain compared to that of his dick was pretty clever even if the dumb fuck didn't get it. Especially a guy who didn't care about sexist stuff like "guys shouldn't hit girls" or anything. God, she hated public schools._

 _A light clicked on—damn it, she got caught up in her thoughts again! At least there was a_ chance _it wasn't Jake and his cronies…_

" _Heh, so that's where you were hiding, chink."_

 _Welp. Lynn sighed and got up, defensively raising her fists as she turned to face her leering opponents. Man, she wished Kay and the others were here to back her up, she didn't think she could just snark out of this one...and shit, she was going to end up in detention with these losers again!_

Umiko opened her eyes. The sun shone brightly from her room's window, its rays getting in her eyes and forcing her to blink. The girl exhaled in relief. It seemed like Uncle Kizu's medicine worked. Well, it didn't get her dreams to stop, but it got her to sleep for the whole night without any nightmares whatsoever! She was finally free from evil giant foxes, creepy red spinning eyes or worse, the hospit _al, day after day; she wasted away slowly while her family and friends helplessly watched, that slowly gave way to_ _ **red**_ —

The five-year old shook her head and got up from her futon. Judging from the voices she heard from outside her room, her parents were already awake. She must've overslept—usually she was the first to get up in the morning. But why didn't they wake her u—

 _Dad chuckled, pushing up his rimmed glasses. "Your body needs its rest, especially since you've been up so late and working so hard. Make sure you sleep more to make up for it after this week, okay?"_

—p? Right, since she hadn't been sleeping well recently, she needed to get more rest to make up for it. Dream her sure knew a lot of smart people, even if she was kinda mean!

Umiko left her room and made her way to her house's dining room (or little guest area, when they had people over) with a wide smile on her face. Said smile slipped once she heard what her parents were talking about.

"We won't starve, even with the higher prices, Kairi. The war won't affect the fish—" Papa said, a hint of sadness in his voice.

"It's not food I'm worried about, dear." Her mama sounded like she was in pain. "It's just—I'm still worried about Umiko. What if the draught doesn't work? What if _nothing_ that Kaya can scrounge up is enough to help her? Can we get enough money to bring her to Uzu for better treatment? We couldn't even afford the medicine Kizu still managed to get for us, how could we afford a proper shinobi doctor?"

"WHO NEEDS A DOCTOR!" Umiko declared as she dramatically slid the door open with a bang. "It worked just fine, see!" She even spread her arms out theatrically for extra effect.

She made sure that none of her unease showed as she proudly presented her normal, energetic, and cheerful self to her papa and mama. The two gaped at her, breakfast momentarily forgotten. From the looks of the low-set table the couple sat it, they had been about halfway through their meal.

Umiko was taken aback when her papa actually let out a full-on laugh, swiftly standing up from his cloth seat on the floor. She couldn't help but continue staring at him as he even hugged her.

"I'm glad you're feeling better," Papa mumbled without letting go.

" _Leave me alone," Lynn muttered. "I know I screwed up, okay?" She turned away so she wouldn't see the look on Kay's face. Her black eye was still sore._

 _Lynn remained motionless when she was dragged into an embrace instead._

A small, true smile formed on her face. Umiko returned the hug. She liked hugs. She wished her papa gave them more often.

Her mama also visibly exhaled in relief from where she was sitting, having unconsciously dropped her chopsticks onto her lap. "Thank goodness," she said with a teary smile. "Hopefully your sleep stays normal even after we use up the draught we have." Umiko's smile flickered, but remained.

What followed was the nicest breakfast Umiko had eaten in a while, considering that she couldn't remember the ones she had within the two weeks or so. She had missed actually being able to concentrate on what she was eating—her mama spent a lot of effort in preparing the usual steamed rice and grilled fish. And as simple as the meal was, the care her mother had for them showed in its taste.

Yet even as she enjoyed the much more pleasant chatter between her parents about village gossip and the like, Umiko still couldn't help but feel that niggling sense of remorse at the back of her head. The five year old finished her food relatively quietly, only asking a few questions here and there, but her heart wasn't really in it.

"...Mama, Papa?" she eventually said. Her parents paused at the downcast look on her face. "Am I a burden?"

"No—of _course_ not!" Visibly perturbed, her mama reached out to her, brushing away some of her hair from her face. "Why would you ever think that?"

"You said—" Umiko sniffed. "You said you couldn't afford the medicine you need for me because of the prices going up, and—"

" _...you had to sell the car just for my private room? And you didn't tell me?"_

"I wouldn't want you to waste money on me."

"Oh, no, no, no…" Papa whispered soothingly, moving closer to her as well. She found herself in her second embrace of the day as both of her parents held her tight. She couldn't help but feel eased by their warmth.

"Listen," her mama murmured. "You are _not a burden._ We were just scared that we couldn't do enough to help you get better."

" _We didn't want to worry you; we wanted you to focus all your energy on recovering."_

"But—"/" _But_ —"

"We were just worried for you. We love you, okay?"

" _We love you, Lynn. Don't ever think that you're a burden to us."_

Umiko sobbed in the arms of her parents for a good, long while.

After Umiko had calmed down enough, she found herself desiring to ask one last question. Something that had been on her mind since her nightmares began.

About hospitals, evil foxes, mysterious and strange red eyes, and war.

Endless war.

 _No end in sight that she could see_ _ **Red. Pure red, stark crimson blood**_ _shed from more and more bodies and fighters and ninja and knives and_ _ **eyes**_ _even as the sun rose and the sun fell continuously the sun's movement accelerated faster yet faster yet faster until all she ever saw of the bright orb in the sky were flashes upon flashes in years years of war and_ _ **blood**_ _and a city bordered by a carved mountain in flames and…a…...screen?_

It had been too foggy for her to fully decipher.

Umiko eyed her parents carefully. "Is the war going to end soon?"

Her parents shared a look. "...Umiko," her papa began. "The thing about wars is that the bigger they are, the longer they last. This war...it's a really big one. We don't know for sure—and I don't think anyone, not even the ninja themselves, ever really know for sure when the war's going to end...but I don't think it's going to end anytime soon."

Umiko couldn't say anything to that. She gripped the edge of her shorts tightly.

"But," her papa smiled. "You don't need to worry about that. We're safe, here, in the Land of Whirlpools! Remember, the entire island's far away from all the fighting. Let the ninja worry about it, okay?"

"...okay." Umiko relaxed. Papa was so smart, just like her dream father was.

Fractured dreams were barely understandable to even the most mature of five year olds. Umiko never considered that her second set of beloved parents could ever be wrong.

* * *

The sky was painted a deep red-orange as the sun slowly set. The waves were calm, even as the sea gradually reached high tide. It was, by all means, a perfectly normal evening as far as the inhabitants of the small village of Kagayaku were concerned.

Arata had been eating dinner with his family when the screaming started.

"What on earth…" Arata murmured in alarm. His daughter instantly latched onto his wife for safety as he stood up from the table instinctively. The distant sounds of screaming echoed throughout the village. What was happening?

"ARATA!"

The front door of their house slammed open with a bang, revealing his wild-eyed and disheveled best friend. He was panting, and more terrified than he had ever seen him before. "ARATA," he gasped, grasping onto the side of the door in exhaustion. "WE NEED TO RUN!"

"Kizu, calm down." Kairi scolded while holding Umiko in a reassuring hug, who was still shivering in fear. From the sweat that covered her brow, she was struggling to remain calm herself. "Explain."

"NO, THERE'S NO—" The fisherman broke into a cough, and, glancing at the entire family, seemed to relent. "Ninja are attacking the island."

Arata couldn't breathe. "No, there's no way," he faintly replied. "Why would they…"

"They've made it to the village, but an Uzushio shinobi passing by told me they're all over the fucking nation. Iwa, Suna, even Ame and Kiri— _they're all here,_ _ **on the island**_."

"BUT WHY?!" Umiko screamed. Arata's mind suddenly returned to a year earlier, when his daughter had nearly given him a heart attack. When she had seemed to age several years in a single moment and pierced him with a blistering stare before asking him about the war.

When he had reassured her that they were safe.

"You _said—_ _ **everyone**_ said that we were far away from the fighting, that we were—" The six-year old abruptly stopped. Her panicked expression, without warning, relaxed.

"...Umiko?"

"They...want to destroy Uzushiogakure…" Umiko whispered under her breath, her words barely discernible to his ears...almost as though she was caught in a trance. "...because of the power of their fuinjutsu."

" _What?_ "

Umiko blinked, the spell broken. "I—I don't know?!" The girl clutched at her head, eyes wide and frozen.

"Nevermind that now," Kizu interrupted briskly. "What's important is that ninja are attacking the island, and _the Uzushio ninja are losing_."

Arata struggled to move. His heart hammered in his chest. "I—"

More screams suddenly pierced the air, much, _much_ closer now.

Kizu turned around to look. "Fuck, they're right outside," he muttered. From the side, Arata could watch a barrage of emotions run through his closest friend's face—anger, hopelessness, grief, then sheer determination all in a single instant—

"I'll distract them."

"Wait—"

The lanky fisherman— _that insane, dimwitted, courageous asshole_ —slammed the door shut behind him.

The air in the house was stifling. Arata took in a deep breath before turning to his horrified wife and stunned daughter. "We need to go," he said. " _Now_."

There wasn't any time. Kairi had Umiko grab one of his fishing satchels filled with the extra rations he had brought home from where it lay on the side, and they were off. The cozy wooden cottage that Kizu had helped him build when he and Kairi had gotten married, where they had raised Umiko peacefully and happily for the past six years—they barely spared it a glance as they hurried through its back door.

The village itself had been set ablaze. As far as Arata could see, scattered copses of trees and a number of wooden houses all burned indiscriminately. The screams, shouting, and even sounds of metal striking metal continued on from every direction. They had to move quickly. Every moment was precious. He couldn't waste the chance that Kizu had given him.

The sun continued to make its way below the horizon as the family ran beneath the dusk. They rushed past more burning cottages, they dashed around clusters of dead bodies. They even sped past other fleeing villagers, so desperate, as they were, to escape. They ignored everything just to run.

' _But,'_ as Arata mused despairingly when a duo of sneering ninja appeared out of nowhere and directly blocked their path. ' _We can't run past ninja, huh?'_

"Heh," said one—a short yet muscular man who dressed wholly in black, much like the rest of them, and had a long sword at his side. He wore one of those ninja headbands on his arm for some strange reason. "Looks like we have a little family here."

"Indeed," remarked the other. He gripped one of his strange ninja daggers, which dripped fresh blood. "Doesn't the sight make you feel warm?"

Arata grit his teeth and pulled his wife and daughter closer. The two were completely frozen in fear even as he burned with anger, adrenaline coursing through his veins. And yet, his mind was blank. What was he supposed to do?

"Man, that lady's quite the looker," said the first one as he licked his lips. "And I bet that little girl they have over there will be the same in a few years."

"Oh, for sure!" the second one agreed, staring directly at his daughter. "What's your name, lass?"

The terrified girl shakily opened her mouth, then closed it just as quickly. Arata was startled when her eyes suddenly narrowed into sharp points. "Fuck off," she told them straight in the eye, to his simultaneous dismay and pride. "Wouldn't want to waste words on you sacks of shit."

The pair were visibly taken aback for several seconds before they scowled. "It appears that you haven't disciplined your daughter properly, for her to use such uncouth language," the second ninja spat. His foolish, courageous daughter blinked rapidly, her expression returning to normal, then paled. " _Let me do it for you_." He jumped _forward—_

—only to suddenly have Kairi intercept him and tackle him down. " _YOU WILL NOT GET ANYWHERE NEAR MY DAUGHTER!_ " she screamed in his face, surprising him enough to nearly fumble his weapon. The two tumbled and tussled, the other ninja's mouth wide open in surprise as a civilian woman somehow summoned the force to wrestle with a ninja out of sheer fury.

Before he could move to help her, the fisherman watched in horror as the ninja quickly caught her in his grip, held his wife down with inhuman strength…

And effortlessly stabbed her through the throat.

The ninja got up, unceremoniously dropping his wife's bleeding body to the side. "Fucking bitch," he muttered, spitting onto it. The other chuckled. Arata saw _**red**_.

All of a sudden, a silhouette darted past them and punched the middle ninja in the jaw.

Arata gaped at the figure. It was a crimson-haired man wearing a metal headband marked with a spiral—the symbol of Uzushiogakure. His armor was tattered and barely holding itself together, and he had a crudely carved peg-leg in place of his left leg. The shinobi was also somehow still alive _despite having a sword piercing straight through his bleeding torso_.

"You complete scum," the shinobi uttered with sheer disgust.

"You're not dead?!" shouted the sword ninja in alarm.

"You will need much more than a surprise attack to put down one of the jonin of Uzushio, honorless _reject_ genin. Even a retired cripple like me." The proud shinobi raised his bare fists, relaxed his shoulders, and prepared his stance. His vest was completely drenched in his own still flowing blood. "Now, _come_."

Arata's disjointed thoughts ran in circles. So much had happened so soon, and so quickly...but he allowed himself just a sliver of hope—an Uzushio shinobi, possibly attracted by Kairi's shout, had finally come; too late to save his wife, but maybe in time to save—

' _No,'_ Arata thought. Outnumbered and already heavily injured, the crippled shinobi engaged the pair in a close quarters fight that the fisherman could barely follow, even pulling out strange, glowing scrolls at times and bringing out all kinds of weapons. He was somehow keeping their attention all at once, but it was clear for even a simple fisherman like Arata to see—the noble, brave, and skilled shinobi was only barely keeping up. It would only be a few minutes before the exhausted veteran would bleed out, allowing the enemy ninja to go for him and his daughter.

In the heat of the moment, Arata knew what he had to do.

"Listen to me, Umiko." He bent down to face his daughter, who hadn't moved a single inch from his side. The ninja continued to trade blows.

The girl appeared to be in shock, still staring at the cooling body of his beloved wife. "But," she mumbled listlessly. "I—Mama—she—"

" _Look me in the eye and listen to me._ "

From out of his pocket, Arata retrieved his battered compass, gently lifted his daughter's hand and carefully placed it into her palm.

"Take the short way around to the dock, through the palm forest. Find the fastest sailboat you can find, and _go_. Just keep sailing west—you'll eventually hit land, and you'll be safe."

They were very close to the dock now, and he was sure that no ninja lingered around the empty forest at this time. Not to mention the fact that their village dock was isolated and far away from the village proper. She would be out of harm's way...but alone.

And he knew that the chances of a six-year old making her way through the whirlpools that his country was known for in the hopes of landing safely at the Land of Fire were next to zero. But he believed— _ **he had to believe**_ —that his precious daughter, so cheerful, so clever and brave for her age, could do it on her own.

Umiko was sobbing now, tears silently dribbling down her face as she clutched her father tightly. "I love you," she whispered softly, her messy hair covering her eyes.

Arata felt his heart breaking, but was filled with steely resolve.

"We'll always love you too, Umiko. Both me and your mother, even if we aren't with you." Arata carefully brushed aside the locks of hair that obscured part of her face, looking straight into the deep gray eyes that mirrored his own. He wanted to be sure that she could take solace in the memory of his face, like he had with his own father years before. " _Now,_ _ **go**_."

Umiko shuddered and ran. Arata took a deep breath, and gathered what little strength he had. The veteran shinobi was clearly losing now, having taken even more hits, but the other ninja were clearly injured too. _**Good.**_

' _I'll join you soon, Kairi. But first,_ _I need to make sure they forget about Umiko. Let's see if an old civilian can at least manage a punch on_ _ **one**_ _of those fucking assholes.'_

* * *

To say that Enmei Uzumaki was having a rough day would be a complete understatement.

The young chunin coughed out a bit more splatters of blood onto the sand. He couldn't hear the sounds of the battle anymore. The fight had taken him far away from Uzushio—at the very edge of the island, even—as he hadn't been in the village when the invasion started. He was currently hunched over in pain, desperately trying to swirl whatever remained of his chakra into his gut in an attempt to stop his internal bleeding. _Lousy fucking Ame ninja and their lousy stupid water release ninjutsu._

There had been no end to them, even in the civilian lands; many of the invaders in that area had been unskilled, having mostly been genin and low-chunin. But they had been so heavily outnumbered, here at the far-off edges of the country...they couldn't keep up. They were losing.

No. He couldn't die here. He still had so much left to give, and so much to live for—

The shinobi felt a presence enter his range. He sensed barely any chakra from it, so it was probably a civilian. _A survivor._

Enmei steadied himself with one of the wooden poles that jutted from the ground. Despite the fast fading light, he had no trouble looking out into the distance for any sign of the lucky civilian. He found himself momentarily gobsmacked when a tiny, dark-haired girl appeared from amidst the trees, staring straight at him with a teary-eyed expression.

"Listen," he said once he had regained his wits. "I'm not—"

"The enemy," the girl interjected, wiping at her eyes before regarding him with a steely gaze. "I know, Lord Shinobi. You have the right hair and headb—no, _forehead protector,_ right. I looked first before I came."

' _What a smart kid.'_ Enmei couldn't help but be impressed; he certainly wasn't as careful as she was when he was younger. "How come you're alone?" he asked.

The girl's face fell.

"Damn," Enmei could easily guess what had happened. "Alright, my bad."

"I—okay." The young girl firmed her gaze before trudging onto the dock. "I'm leaving."

Enmei blinked. "You're—" The girl had a rusty compass clutched in her hand. "You know how to sail?!"

"I've lived in a coastal village all my life, course' I know how to sail," the girl answered with a snort, even as she moved towards one of the smaller, single-mast keelboats that were tied to the dock.

"Ha—" he began to laugh, before he doubled over and coughed out more blood, spilling what felt like his guts all over the ground. ' _Shit,'_ he thought, grimacing. ' _I really am gonna die.'_

"Are you okay?" Enmei winced as the girl jolted him back to reality, an expression of concern on her face. She already had one foot in the boat.

"Eh, well," he grinned and flashed her a thumbs down. "Not really."

The girl looked like she was at a loss for words before pursing her lips together and raising an eyebrow at him. He decided that he _definitely_ liked this girl.

"Hey," Enmei said. "What's your name?"

"...Umiko."

"Umiko, huh. I'm Enmei." The chunin thought quickly before settling on a decision. "Can you take me with you?"

Umiko's eyes widened. "Eh?"

"I'm not gonna last long," he admitted. "But I really need to get somewhere." Even if it was only his dead body that reached Konoha, that would be alright. From the few he'd met, he knew that Konoha shinobi were a smart bunch. They'd understand what had happened with just his corpse. It was a long shot, but what else could he do? "Is that okay?"

"Yeah," Umiko answered. "Yeah, sure. Let me help you on."

It was a struggle, but the two managed to work together to get him lying semi-comfortably on the boat. Umiko, to his amazement, expertly handled the riggings and the sail like she had been doing so for most of her life—and she _had_ been, apparently. Her small stature didn't hinder her in the slightest. A few minutes later, they were off at sea, the wind and waves quickly taking them farther and farther away from the shore.

Instead of showing relief at their successful escape, Umiko frowned, tightening her grip on the rigging. "I've never gone out farther than the fishing areas," she confessed as she glanced at her compass. "I know the Land of Fire is just west, straight west—but I don't know how to deal with all the whirlpools and stuff. I mean, they only come out at high tide."

"Ah," he vocalized in response. "That's understandable. Only ships with Uzushio ninja on them go sailing at night."

Umiko nervously shifted her feet. "Uh, like you. So do you know any ninja tricks that can help?"

"Hm…" Enmei struggled to keep his eyes open as he mentally ran through the seals that he knew. He was no good at regular water jutsu, so he would just have to make do with what he had. "I think I've got one, actually. Just give me a second."

Enmei brought out his trusty brush and standard ink pot, alongside one of his spare empty scrolls from his personal storage seal. "A seal…" Umiko said in awe as she watched him retrieve his items from a pocket that obviously couldn't have have held all that normally.

"Man, you are one impressive little kid," Enmei praised. "Yeah, I'll make a seal that can get us through the whirlpools without a reinforced hull or water jutsu, no problem. Just leave it to me."

Enmei quickly drew a twist on the usual Uzumaki Barrier seal on the clean paper. The "trick" he came up with was to seal water-aligned chakra, which he could at least _barely_ manage, instead of the usual neutral barrier chakra into the scroll. That would definitely be enough to allow Umiko to sail her boat through the rapids, and would even speed them up a fair bit. Not a bad way to go out.

"Alright, it's done," he said as he finished sealing the last of his chakra into the ink. "I'll activate it once you tell me to."

"Okay," Umiko responded, a note of relief in her voice. "Thanks."

Time passed in a companionable silence. Enmei felt close to blacking out several times, but was able to hold on, staring at the darkening sky. ' _One last task,'_ he told himself, even as he marvelled at the fading, distant stars of the night sky. ' _You only need to last for one last task…'_

"Lord Enmei," Umiko said, once more interrupting his train of thought. He turned to the little girl. Her face was obscured as she stared out into the distance, her hands still on the ropes, as though she could already see her destination. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Why did you become a shinobi?"

"Hm, that's a good question." Umiko flashed him an unimpressed look as she deftly handled the sail. Enmei could only chuckle before wincing at the pain. "I guess...I grew up surrounded by ninja," he said. "Almost my entire family was shinobi—my mom was one, my dad was one, even all of my siblings and cousins and grandparents were shinobi. I was the youngest kid there, so I grew up pretty inspired by them."

"Huh."

"Eh, it's not just that," he mumbled, struggling to keep his eyes open. The stars seemed to be growing even more blurry. The tiring, heartbreaking events of the day were getting to him. "I was inspired by them, but also...you know, family is everything to me. I loved them all for how much time they spent with me, and how much fun we had together," he smiled sadly at the thought, knowing it was all lost."I guess I also wanted to pay them back for all the things they did for me."

"I owed them that much."

"Paying them back," Umiko muttered. "That's a pretty—holy shit those are huge."

Enmei lifted his head from where he lay to see the intimidating whirlpools that the Land of Whirlpools were famous for. A dozen blocked their way forward, each with around a forty-feet radius and unfathomable depths.

"Alright, then." Enmei stated, barely audible. "Hold on tight, Umiko."

Warned appropriately, the young civilian immediately hugged the mast of the boat.

He pressed the seal on the side of the boat and concentrated, using the last of his strength to flash through a few hand seals. To his relief, a strong azure glow and the feeling of acceleration answered his activation sequence. His rapidly failing eyesight couldn't let him see the _exact_ effects of his improvised seal, but from the whirling sounds of the water, the nature-enhanced barrier was stabilizing the topmost portions of the whirlpool as they sailed through.

He tried to picture it in his mind. A small sailboat handled by a young girl while the bleeding body of an Uzushio ninja rested in the back. A glowing shield out of circulating water formed out of the sea was all that protected it from the colossal whirlpool beneath it. A cloudless sky of stars, the smell of the sea on the breeze that blew along the waves...

Enmei closed his eyes, a soft smile gracing his face. His duty was finally done. At least, in the end, he was

able to

save

 _one…_

* * *

"Lord Enmei, it worked! _**HAHAHAHA**_ , _IT'S WORKING!_ WE'RE GOING TO MAKE IT!"

". _..I'm going to make it_."

"..."

"...Lord Enmei?"

"Enmei?"

* * *

"Everyone, get up! There's been an attack!"

Nobuo's eyes quickly flicked open, suddenly fully awake. He jumped down from his bunk, an action mirrored by his bunkmate and his bunkmate's canine partner to the side. Moonlight flooded the room from an opened door, revealing that the remaining genin and chunin present had done the same. The pair quietly nodded at each other.

The two of them, alongside everyone else within the small outpost's barracks, immediately headed for the commander's briefing area, alarm and discipline simultaneously driving their haste. As the chunin's quarters of the seaside outpost were right next to it, it only took them a few moments flickering through the shifting shadows of the forest to reach their destination—an outside section directly in front of the captain's quarters.

They weren't the first to arrive.

"I don't understand this," said one of the older chunin present. A Nara, from the emblem on her flak jacket. "Iwagakure has grown bold. Ordering a strike so near our borders, literally off the coast—"

"No." Captain Hatake interrupted. "Not as simple as a strike. Other outposts have confirmed sighting more than a dozen war barges, much more than what Iwagakure can muster on their own, sailing for the Land of Whirlpools from multiple directions. This must be a full-on assault...but I don't quite understand their angle…" He frowned. "Althou—no, there's no way they would actually..."

The silver-haired jonin winced as he trailed off, readjusting the bandage on his shoulder. The renowned ninja had been assigned to their outpost for rest, considering its distance from the front lines. It seemed that the war had followed him anyway.

"Nobuo Furuta and Arai Inuzuka—please do a perimeter check to ensure that there are no enemies in the immediate vicinity," instructed the captain.

The pair nodded and body flickered away.

They were silent as they moved. Aki, Arai's gray-furred, wolf-like partner, took the lead with his keen senses since his Inuzuka partner was in no mood to do so. The duo had only recently been raised in rank, due to field promotions in the aftermath of an engagement against Iwagakure infiltrators. It was also the battle where they had lost the other two members of their team.

Both were in no hurry to talk, and let the silence of the evening fill the space between them even as they sped along the ground and through the woodland stretch. They had a lot on their minds.

Nobuo's sensei had been like a father to him; and Nina, a sister. Losing them had almost been as difficult as losing his parents had been. As the trees around him shifted from oak and beech to solely palm, with the distinct fresh and earthy smell of the forest giving way to the salt of the sea, the shinobi couldn't help but wonder about what he was supposed to do next. At least Arai still had his family...but how could _he_ possibly begin to move on from—

"Nobuo," Arai whispered, his voice cutting through the night. So soon, so close to the outpost, and Aki had already stopped moving. Nobuo immediately feared the worst.

Thus, the sight that greeted him came as a complete surprise.

A little girl kneeled on the shore, her legs resting in the curling waves. Reaching around three and a half feet tall, she seemed to be around six, maybe seven years old. She stared off into the distance at a far-off coast that Nobuo instinctively knew was the Land of Whirlpools while weeping bitterly. A battered yet intact sailboat lay capsized on the sand at her side, along with what appeared to be the body of an Uzushio ninja—at least, judging from his uniform, headband, and hair.

The pair of Konoha shinobi shared a look. Aki continued to observe the girl, his tall ears flicking about, but remained silent.

Arai sighed and shook his head. "You know I'm no good at these kinds of things."

Nobuo glared at him for a moment before reluctantly relenting. The chunin knew all too well that his Inuzuka friend wasn't the greatest at comforting others.

He carefully approached the girl. He soon noticed that her loose camisole shirt and shorts were stained with both fresh and dried blood. She was also visibly unwounded. The chunin gulped before opening his mouth.

"Kid, it's okay," Nobuo spoke as softly as he could. "Everything's alright now. You're safe."

The girl forcefully wiped at her face and shook her head. The girl's gray eyes were puffy and red—she had clearly been crying for some time. "No, the other ninja…they're still there—" She turned towards him, took one look at him and froze. "...here?"

Nobuo tried his best to smile reassuringly. "We're not going to hurt you. We're from Konoha."

Her eyes widened, gazing directly at his forehead protector. "Oh." The girl took a step back, her eyes dilating, her breathing quickening rapidly—

"No, no—everything is okay, _everything is alright!_ "

The survivor collapsed. Nobuo swiftly grabbed her before she hit the cool sand of the beach.

"She fainted," he muttered, lifting her limp body from the sand.

Aki trotted forward, sniffing at her side. Arai moved next to him with an uncharacteristically empathetic expression. "I don't blame her," his partner said, placing a hand onto his shoulder.

Nobuo squeezed his eyes shut for a moment and shook his head. "Let's finish the patrol then head back." Arai nodded, picking up the body of the fallen ninja before rejoining his side.

He carried her as gently as he could.

* * *

Author's Note:

...so is it any good?

I kid. More seriously though, any feedback in the form of comments (in the reviews) would be a lot of help.

My main goal for this story is to experiment with a main character who isn't exactly a full on "self-insert," but only carries the fragments of another person's memories. Expect the main character to act like a somewhat more mature and intelligent kid due to her extra memories who still needs a lot more growing up to do.

Thank you for reading.


	2. 1 - Settling In

" _Twelve years ago, a nine-tailed fox suddenly appeared. Its tail lashed out, smashing mountains and sending tidal waves crashing to the shores."_

She was…

" _The ninja rose up to defend their villages…"_

She was _so_ _ **fucking**_ _stupid_.

" _One shinobi faced the nine-tailed fox in mortal combat. He sacrificed his life to capture the beast and seal it in a human body…"_

She knew she should have suspected something once she saw snippets of the world that she lived in within her dreams.

" _That ninja was known as the Fourth Hokage."_

Especially since she first saw them through a screen—which, she now realized, was something called a _television._

Umiko rolled over, moving to the other side of the bed she had found herself on after waking up alone and in the dark. Her satchel had disappeared; she panicked briefly before she realized that her compass was still safely clutched in her hand. She was in a small, bare room that held a small bedside table and a blanket-less bed. A glance outside the room's sole window revealed a cloudless, starry sky, a seemingly endless forest, and in the far-off distance, a strange, sprawling city of tiered buildings built next to a mountain with humongous faces meticulously carved into it. It was a spectacle that she had never seen before, but that she somehow recognized all the same.

This was Konohagakure, the Village Hidden in the Leaves. A shinobi village where a malevolent, nine-tailed fox would rise up and a person known as the Fourth Hokage would sacrifice himself to seal it into the body of a baby named Naruto—a boy who would grow up to become the savior of the world...at least, from what little she could remember.

Seeing as she'd only ever heard of a _Third_ Hokage from the chatter around her village, that obviously hadn't happened yet. Then there was the fact that her home...the Land of Whirlpools had only just been destroyed.

The girl sighed, staring at the rusted compass that her papa had entrusted to her. It was the symbol of Konoha—the symbol she had seen inscribed on the shinobi's forehead protector that had caused what felt like a dam to break in her mind. A flood of visions had overwhelmed her—not only that of watching a sunday-morning show while growing up, but of reading certain comics ( _manga_ , her mind whispered), of discussing it with friends, and of continuing to follow the story all the way to its end. Umiko couldn't handle all of these at once, so she promptly fainted and began to dream. Much like she always did.

But something was different this time. Her dreams had seemed different. She...felt a little different, too. Or maybe she was just pissed that _her_ _ **fucking**_ _home was destroyed and her family was killed by a bunch of_ _ **bloody assholes**_ _._

She grit her teeth in the darkness, more tears threatening to escape from her eyes.

Who...was she? Why did she know about any of this, anyway? Where did her dreams of another life and a completely different world come from? Her dreams came scattered and fragmented; so difficult for her to sift through when they came to her. She didn't understand. She _wanted_ to understand.

 _"Shh...Lynn. Why are you always so impatient?" Her mother placed a hand on her face, ever so gently._

Umiko shut her eyes and eased herself into the moonlit darkness. Concentrating, the six-year old survivor gripped onto the mattress with one hand and her compass in the other with all her strength. She was going to try something she had never done before. She was going to look for a dream.

 _Surely_ her dream self had heard about something like this before! She was going to find it and force some _**motherfucking**_ answers out of it!

" _I'll grab some fries on the way_ —"

"— _need a dollar and ninety-nine cents_ —"

"— _how did you do on the test?"_

No, these weren't anything helpful.

" _The key to writing a good story is to—_ "

"— _shut up, guys. She's asle_ —"

"— _grab that blouse, then? It's—"_

Come on, surely there was something useful in here…?

"— _isn't that pretty cliche? I mean, having them both be the reborn s_ —"

Wait.

Something told her that was important.

"— _ons of the big important sage guy AND Madara and Hashirama at the same time is kinda stupid." Lynn scratched the back of her head. The noise of a hundred conversations going on at once, much like this one, echoed through the cafeteria as she and her friends ate their lunch._

" _Oh, quit nitpicking," Cass grumbled good-naturedly. The fifteen-year old student knew that her blond-haired, sweater-vested friend didn't really mean it, so she just smirked in response._

" _I dunno," she continued, her vulpine smile stretching across her face. "It feels like Kishimoto's running out of ideas. I really doubt he planned this whole 'reincarnation' plot for Naruto out from the start. He should really end this soon."_

Reincarnation…a concept wherein a person's soul is born anew into a new being after one's death. That was the only explanation that resonated with her; made sense in a way that discouraged her from trying to seek more clues. After all, like dream her knew, reincarnation was already something that occurred in the world of "Naruto"...

So her strange, jittery dream snippets during the night and the day weren't dreams at all. They weren't just a 'product of her overactive imagination,' as her mama once put it.

They were memories of a past her, a different person who had grown up with a completely different family in a completely different world. After dying, she had somehow been reborn into ...some other dimension based on a popular story. A story that her past self had followed, if not religiously, at least close enough for her to have known about the destruction of her home.

And it took her this long to realize this? _Just how stupid could she be?_

If only she'd been a little faster, just a little more curious. Less carefree.

Maybe she could have saved her family. _Maybe she could have stopped the entire attack from happening at all!_

...and how did her—no, how did _**Lynn's**_ soul even reach this world in the first place?

The door slammed open with a bang. Umiko nearly fell off the bed in surprise, eyes shocked wide open. She turned to see a middle-aged lady dressed in black and white robes complete with a thin veil ( _a nun's habit_ ) standing in the doorway, carrying a metal tray. Said lady blushed furiously at the sight of her surprise.

"I'm so terribly sorry!" the woman exclaimed, bowing her head in apology. "I thought you were already awake."

"...it's fine," the young girl replied, slightly irritated. A glimpse out the window revealed the sun already high up in the sky—strange, since Umiko remembered that it had been nighttime when she had closed her eyes to focus. Searching through her past memories must have taken longer than she thought, though she felt no exhaustion.

"Oh, you poor thing." The woman walked into the room and hurriedly set down her tray on the table, which held a plate of bread and a glass of water. "We were all so worried when Furata and his partner dropped you off here last night, even more when he told us you'd been passed out for the entirety of their three day trip..."

Wait, what? " _Three_ days?"

"Yes, dear." The nun ( _maybe?_ ) looked at her with concern even as the girl idly grabbed a piece of bread and began to gnaw on it. "Furata said that you passed out right after they found you on that beach. Captain Hatake immediately had the two boys bring you here after they did a more thorough search!"

" _I'm sorry, Lynn." The doctor looked at her with soft eyes, chilling her to the bone. "The test came back positive—"_

Umiko's eyes narrowed. The woman's eyes, saddened almost to the point of being teary, were filled with pity. Too much pity. A part of her began to grow more and more annoyed with each second the woman stared at her with that _**aggravating**_ expression, though she mostly felt hungry.

"They didn't find anyone else, did they?" the survivor glowered.

The lady hesitated. "...I'm so sorry."

Umiko slowly closed her eyes and let out a deep, long sigh. She hated the fact that, as conflicted as she was, most of her didn't feel surprised in the slightest. The only person who seemed to have made it to Kagayaku's docks was Enmei, after all.

Who also happened to be dead.

"Okay," she said, after a moment's reflection. "...and please don't call me dear."

"I'm...sorry?"

"My mother liked to use that word," she replied, still chewing absentmindedly on her food and determinedly detaching herself from her words. The bread was stale. She reached for the glass of water. "You're reminding me of her a bit, and she _kinda_ got shanked the other day. Right in front of me."

 _ **Red**_ _spilled all over the ground, churning in her mind, as a dark man chuckled freely._

She chewed and chewed and swallowed.

"Oh," the woman squeaked. She covered her mouth, though whether in embarrassment or in horror, she didn't know. Umiko felt bad. ' _Today sure is going well, isn't it?'_ she thought.

"So," Umiko continued, changing the subject for the poor woman's sake. "I'm Umiko. What's your name?" She made a show of squinting around the dusty room. "And where am I, anyway?"

"Er, well—my name is Hiroko Hidaka, although you can just refer to me as Matron Hidaka, de—Umiko. And this is Konohagakure, the shinobi village for the Land of Fire."

"I got that from the mountain, though," the girl replied, waving a hand at the far, far-away mountain out the window. She scratched the back of her head. "Uh, _where_ are we in Konoha?"

Matron Hidaka smiled gently, her soft eyes still filled with pity. "Konoha Orphanage."

She really should have guessed.

* * *

Umiko splashed her face before letting the warm water drip down from her chin and fall into the basin. It had been thoughtful of Matron Hidaka to prepare some clean water for her to wash up with in advance. Her cheeks were no longer numb, though the glazed tiles of the bathroom flooring ensured that the soles of her feet were cold. The survivor wished that she had a pair of socks.

At least she was given a change of clothes. Her new strikingly violet shirt and knee-length shorts were pretty comfortable, and a definite upgrade to her previous bloodstained clothing...even if they were a bit worn and patched in some places. At the very least, she'd fit in without a problem.

She glanced around the entirety of the compact bathroom. ' _It feels weird,'_ she thought to herself, surveying the tiled flooring and walls, as well as the small sink and what appeared to be a primitive toilet and bathtub on the side. ' _I've never seen a room like this in my entire life...but it seems so familiar.'_

She faced the oval-shaped mirror hanging above the basin. Her reflection stared back—gray eyes, thin lips and all. Her hair was getting long; it extended a few inches past her shoulders with a number of split ends. Her unkempt burgundy bangs remained equally parted to each side of her forehead...she really needed a haircut. Maybe Matron Hidaka knew how, since her mama wouldn't be able to anymore…

" _We love you. We only want what's best for you."_

She slapped both her hands onto the sides of her face, clenching her eyes shut. The girl took deep, heavy breaths. Her nails dug into her skin. Her feet were unsteady.

She was supposed to be preparing herself for the rest of her life and not _angsting_ like a little _**bitch**_. She couldn't do that right now. It wouldn't d _o if the first impression that the other kids had of her was to be 'the whiny crying_ _ **dipshit**_ _.' They would pick on her and no one would take her seriously and they'd never leave her alone!_

She pushed her forehead against the mirror.

" _Suck it up,_ _ **you little**_ _**shit**_ ," Lynn grit out through her teeth.

Wait.

Umiko quickly stepped back, nearly slipping on the floor in her haste. Her eyes flashed open as she covered her mouth. Her reflection stared back at her in horror.

…...things were really getting to her, huh?

She rubbed her face, giving the mirror a stinkeye. "My name is _Umiko_ ," she declared. She stared straight into her own eyes. She watched as her determined expression wavered as soon as it came. "...and maybe also Lynn." She sighed.

"I don't know."

She slowly extended a finger to the mirror, gently poking her mirrored appearance. "I don't really want to be Umiko right now," the survivor admitted. "But I don't really want to be Lynn either. Or like...ever."

"You," she said, prodding at her own mirrored chest. "Stop worming into my head! Go away! Run off into hell or heaven or something!"

Her reflection did not reply.

"This is so fucking stupid."

She slapped her forehead. "No, stop it with the mean words. _What are you doing?!_ "

She let a few seconds pass as she forced herself to calm down, sucking in short breaths that fogged the glass in front of her. She really hated this. She hated how comfortable she felt in such an alien bathroom. She hated how she felt comfortable when being mean to people and while cursing. _She hated how much she needed to be comfortable right now._

She eyed the side of the basin. Matron Hidaka had even left a few plain wooden clips and rubber hair ties for her to use if she wished. She really ought to thank her later...and maybe also apologize.

"Okay," she breathed. "How about this?"

The child carefully took one of the black hair ties from the side before grabbing the hair at the back of her hair in one swift motion. The motions of tying a ponytail were familiar to her, despite her never having worn a hair tie throughout her entire life. She had no trouble there.

Her bangs and front locks remained untouched as she eyed the mirror once more. It didn't look half-bad. She remembered her past self looking a lot worse the first time she tried using a hair tie.

"I'm Umiko," she announced with a confident tone, her words subtly echoing throughout the room. The familiar tightness of her ponytail reassured her. A small smile grew on her face, and she watched as her reflection followed.

She was as ready as she'd ever be. She turned to leave.

* * *

Umiko had acknowledged earlier that she didn't want to be Lynn and _never_ wanted to be Lynn. She really didn't want to use the habits of an antisocial jerk as an emotional crutch, even if her past self did manage to maintain a close circle of friends and family.

She was reminded that she was still sorely tempted to.

"Hey, new kid!" jeered the leader of her welcoming committee as they marched towards her. She immediately felt cold anxiety run down her back. His eyes bore into her with derision. The rest of his group—all black and hazel-haired rough-looking boys, she noted—wore the same plain white shirts and brown shorts like they were a uniform. Their leader was the tallest and largest among them—big for his age, and might've been older than her by a year or so. His spiky haircut framed his head like they were an unwashed crown of thorns and a toothy sneer sliced across his face.

Umiko resisted her first impulse to punch these idiots in the face and just smiled blithely. She had deliberately chosen to stay at the back of the indoor "play" area in order to figure out which kids to avoid and trouble _still_ ended up following her. She continued leaning onto the wood paneling of the wall, internally lamenting on her luck, and breathed in the earthen scent of the nearby forest that wafted inside from the open windows. Outside a side doorway that lead to the outdoor playground, she could see dozens of pine, oak, and beech trees dotting the horizon. She missed the ocean.

"Yes?" the girl asked as politely as she could, turning to face them. "Can I help you?"

The "fearless" leader faltered slightly at her supposed cluelessness, before rallying himself. "My name's Natsu," he barked, pointing at himself. His posse loomed menacingly behind him—some of them crossing their arms, others smirking proudly. "And I'm the boss here. So you have to listen to everything I say—got it?"

 _Jake sneered at her. Lynn felt her face heat up._

Umiko's stomach churned. ' _Are there_ really _people like this in every universe?'_

What a pain. This little _fucker_ was definitely trying to frighten her into being submissive. He was inviting trouble. Her knuckles itched.

...but that wouldn't be a good idea. She was here to start fresh, as a way of moving on from...both her lost home and the former owner of her soul. Why did this simple-minded moron have to stir shit up with her the moment she got here?!

Wait. A simple-minded moron...

 _Someone laughed daintily..._

An idea lit up within her mind. Umiko made a point of blankly staring at him before turning to face the thirty or so kids who were playing and chatting in the area, even as a good few of them ran in and out of the building continuously. "Is this guy the boss?!" she yelled.

A couple of kids glanced at her, giggled, then looked aside. A few terrified looking girls sitting in a circle behind Natsu immediately shook their heads. Most of them didn't hear her above the din.

Umiko turned to face the bewildered bully once more and shrugged. "Okay, you're the boss," she affirmed with a smile. Then she turned away.

The script was broken, and the bait was thrown.

The young girl wasn't too surprised when Natsu, his thick face frowning, moved directly in front of her and faced her from where she sat. His flunkies followed dutifully, all scowling.

One other boy stepped forward, glaring daggers at her. "Listen here—" he began, before being cut off by the elder bully's raised arm.

"Shut up, Maro. I'm talking here," grumbled Natsu. He eyed her once more. "You think you're funny, huh?" he seethed.

"Whaddya mean?" She cocked her head to the side. Here came the true test.

"I—but—" he stammered, taken aback at the complete confusion on her face. "You know what I mean."

"You can't just say 'you know what I mean' without explaining what you mean, I'm not that smart," she remarked neutrally, concealing the mischievous glint in her eye and the fear deep in her heart as she tried to keep her face free of conflicting emotions. All she had was a childlike smile, carefully held. Just a surprisingly stupid little girl.

"I—okay," The brawny boy took in a steady breath. "You're making fun of me."

The survivor made sure to visibly blink. "What, me?" she said with an air of incredulity. "I wouldn't make fun of you." Her fingers were crossed behind her back.

"You asked the entire room if I was the boss of this place!" bellowed the stereotypical bully. He cut through the room's noise better than she did. The rest of her welcoming committee watched their discussion like it a tennis match, their heads turning back and forth with each new sentence.

"Yeah? And?" Umiko rubbed her forehead with a stray hand.

" _Why did you do that?!"_

"My mama always told me to ask first."

Natsu glowered at her, gnashing his teeth together for a few moments before suddenly cracking his knuckles. "You have a mom?" he growled.

A chill ran down her spine—she accidentally found a sore spot. Then again, she probably should have expected this. Umiko forced herself to stay still. "Yeah, a dead one," the girl replied, forcing disinterest into her tone. She felt another part of her twinge at the thought before she smothered the stray emotion and kept the crimson _**red**_ out of sight. ' _Not now.'_

His eyes widened in shock. "Oh."

"Why do you think I'm in an orphanage?" Her face was scrunched with confusion.

"...right."

A few awkward seconds passed as the stupid boy gaped at her, trying to search for more words to say. He appeared to be somewhat taken aback. Umiko watched as a bird began to build a nest on one of the trees outside. She glanced behind the bully. An audience was beginning to surround them.

She did not smile.

"Wait, _ugh_ ," Natsu suddenly groaned, rubbing his eyes before glaring at her once again. "You think you're funny?"

"I already told you I wasn't making fun of you." Umiko cocked her head to the side.

"No, you are," the boy insisted angrily. "You're making fun of me!"

"I don't get it?"

"What do you mean you don't get it?!"

"I mean I don't understand. All I did was ask."

" _WHY DID YOU HAVE TO ASK?!"_ Natsu roared.

"I already _told_ you, my mama taught me to."

" _GHHH—"_ The boy slammed his palm into his forehead. "It—it doesn't work like that!"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean—" Oh, he was struggling now. Umiko could almost see his mind desperately whirling to explain things to a clueless new kid. No one had ever played dumb to him.

"I mean it doesn't make sense!" he finally hissed.

' _Just a few more seconds…'_

She decided to throw him a bone. "She told me that I needed to be polite, especially when I met new people," the girl explained. "So I decided to ask."

"You didn't need to ask," he growled out, his hands in his face. Suddenly a spark went through his eyes, and his confused expression shifted to a scowl. Was the game up?

He bent down to until they were face to face, the bully's fury apparent. "I already told you I was the boss," the boy snarled.

"And I said you were the boss, didn't I?" she retorted, suddenly jumping from where she sat and jolting the bully backwards. He landed on his butt with a yelp. Wordlessly, his friends quickly rushed to his side.

The survivor grinned a sharp smile. "I just didn't want to be rude!"

"What—"

"To, you know—" she waved her hands in the direction behind the bully. Natsu and his flunkies turned to see the majority of the orphanage's current orphan population closely surrounding them, all silently watching with interest shining in their eyes. "All of these guys!"

"You guys think he's the boss, right?" Umiko gleefully inquired.

If even one person among the group blabbed, she was sure that someone as motherly as Matron Hidaka wouldn't stand for any bullying to occur under her watch. Umiko might not know how someone managed to stay a schoolyard bully in a setting like this, but surely this seven year old boy had the sense to avoid any chance of adult intervention. She had him in checkmate.

...at least, that was what Umiko hoped.

Natsu and his group faltered underneath the collective stares of more than twenty witnesses. Umiko slowly relaxed, taking it in. They were used to beating on isolated kids, away from interested eyes. Scaring their victims into not seeking help due to the fear of retaliation—that was her guess for their _modus operandi_. Her gamble was a success.

"This isn't over," growled the sullen boy as he walked away. His group, still in a confused daze, followed after him. They left out the inner door, heading deeper into the orphanage and away from her. For now.

Their audience, having lost their main source of entertainment, promptly returned to whatever they were doing. Some boys restarted their game of 'ninja tag,' other kids returned to their discussion circles, and the room came back to life.

Only then did Umiko let the full mess of nervousness, annoyance, and amusement show on her face. ' _I can't believe that worked,'_ she thought, sitting back down and sliding down the wall in relief even as she laughed in relief. ' _That was_ so _close.'_

Umiko felt somewhat proud of herself. Lynn would've just tried to beat the crap out of them, but clearly, her own way had worked. Somehow. And she had fun too, so had it really been so bad?

...she was going to have to stay near crowded areas from now on, wasn't she?

"Oy, you there!" Umiko jerked as a feminine voice suddenly called out. Waving at her from the outside was a girl beaming at her and...a _blue_ -haired boy? Right, blue was a normal hair color in this— _her_ world. ' _Dammit.'_

Anyway, the both of them flashed her a thumbs up—one beaming brightly, the other with a slight smirk—before they swiftly ran out of her sight.

Interesting. The other kids hadn't tried to approach her yet. She was still an outsider to them, after all.

She mentally shrugged. ' _Eh, might as well.'_

* * *

The azure sky remained clear of clouds. The sun was warm on her skin. The tree offered her some shade.

The kids whom she hoped would become her new friends were loud as hell.

"That was amazing!" the girl exclaimed, hanging idly from the tree. "Natsu went away, just like that—and you didn't even _touch_ him!"

"I dunno, I felt kinda close to getting a few new bruises," replied Umiko with a smug grin.

"So? He totally looked like he was gonna burst!"

The survivor shook her head in bemusement, staring up at the excited orphan as she swung on the tall tree's largest branch right over her and the dark-haired boy's heads. She was a short kid, maybe even shorter than her. Her brown hair was tied neatly into a bun, and her light green eyes sparkled. She also seemed to be getting dust and dirt all over her plain brown overalls and long-sleeved white sweater. A sunny smile graced her face.

 _Cheerful, faded laughter could be heard all around her. It was a time of jungle gym sets, playgrounds, and band-aids._

The boy at her side snorted, narrowing his already thin eyes further at the girl's antics. "Quit it," he chided, his short wavy hair waving in the wind. "Komatsu already got on your case after the mud incident. Even got me in trouble for it, after you—" The boy motioned at his own clothes—a black tunic underneath a denim vest, along with some long, baggy pants. "— _literally_ dragged me into the mud!"

They actually looked really comfortable. Umiko couldn't help but feel slightly jealous. Maybe Matron Hidaka had a spare vest, jacket, or even hoodie (if they existed yet) for her to borrow...

"Peh." The girl actually spit out her tongue at him. "Don't be a suck-up."

"I am _not_ sucking up."

"Yes, you are!"

"You're sucking up," Umiko chimed in, a smirk on her face.

The stern-faced kid squinted at her. The girl beamed triumphantly even as leaves flew into her face from the heavy breeze.

"Besides," she giggled. "The mud wasn't even my fault—"

"It was _so_ your fault; _I_ was there."

" _Soooo?_ "

"I had to polish my whetstone for hours!"

"Really? Who even brings around a—"

"Uh, yo," Umiko coughed. The pair turned to her with blank expressions, one face right side up and the other upside down. She leaned back, resting her head on the tree bark, and pointed at herself. "Umiko."

She pointed at them.

"Uh—"

"I'm Rie!" The green-eyed girl said with a cheery air, suddenly face-to-face with her from above. "The _awesomest_ girl you'll meet around here!"

"My name's Makoto," said the dark-haired boy with a sigh. "I'm stuck with her."

"Please," she smugly replied, turning to face him. "You _like_ being stuck with me."

"The other girls think she's weird," he explained. It seemed like he was trying to keep a straight face. "But I just think she's nuts."

"There's a difference?" Umiko asked, her eyebrow lifting by an inch.

The thin-eyed boy just rolled his eyes in response.

 _They hid away in the corner of an empty classroom. A circle of smirks and smiles flashed around her. Kay gripped her wrist reassuringly._

 _Lynn was home._

Umiko _liked_ these guys.

"Alright, shut up," Rie interjected, scrunching her face tightly before jumping down from her perch. Several strands of hair had fallen out of her bun and now messily wrapped around her face. "Still, who even brings a _whetstone_ everywhere?"

"It was a gift!" Makoto immediately protested. "It's my _own_ whetstone! Old man Isamu _finally_ gave one to me after months just making me sharpen kunai!"

"Huh," Umiko vocalized, watching as the infuriated orphans glared at each other. The two of them were really good friends. "You've been working under a blacksmith?"

"You bet!" answered Makoto with a grin, suddenly starry-eyed. The blacksmith's apprentice pushed Rie to the side to fully face her even as Rie yelped. "I've been learning under him for a while now! Well, not a lot yet besides polishing and cleaning stuff since I'm only six and a half—but he told me he'll start teaching me more once I finally get into the Academy!"

The survivor chuckled at his starry expression. Looked like this supposedly straightfaced guy hid a weirdness of his own. "Ninjas, huh?"

"Yep. Both of us are," revealed Rie with a proud huff.

" _Will_ —both of us _will_ be ninjas. We don't start our first year until around two months from now."

"Simatics."

" _Semantics_. If you're gonna use big words, say it right!"

"So, the mud?" she inquired.

The boy chortled giddily as Rie paled. "She was trying to do a jutsu she saw the other day. Of course, it didn't work since none of us know how to use chakra yet, so she got mad."

" _Makoto!"_ The academy student-to-be, fully incensed, quickly grabbed a fistful of leaves from the ground and threw them into the now smug boy's face. He didn't look bothered in the least.

"I thought you two weren't even students yet," Umiko commented in a reflective tone. "How'd you even get to see a jutsu like that?"

"Ehehehe…" laughed Rie nervously. "You see—"

"She likes to sneak into the ninja training grounds."

" _You jerk!_ It's not like you haven't gone in with me too!"

Makoto simply shrugged in an off-hand manner. "Relax," the boy assured when he noticed Umiko's concern. "We actually just go to the third training ground. Nothing dangerous over there."

The survivor stared at him.

"Okay, it's still a restricted area," the boy admitted. "But it's just normal trees like the rest of Konoha. Even has this river perfect for swimming in!"

"That sounds nice," Umiko replied sincerely. "It's no ocean, but I'll take it."

Makoto frowned. "You've seen the ocean?"

The pair stared at her in puzzlement, cornering her from both sides. Umiko, realizing her slip, bit her lip and looked at her feet. "I...uh...I'm from out of town?"

" _Rie_ ," admonished Makoto with a sigh as the excitable girl slid her face right next to Umiko. She could feel her breath on her cheek.

She leaned forward, hugging her knees and slipping away from Rie in one move. She did not look at the two. Their gazes pierced at her from behind.

"...you guys hear about Whirlpool yet?" the survivor mumbled, her dejected gaze flickering towards them.

"Yeah, and it's awful!" Rie exclaimed. "The island got totalled by a whole army of ninja for no reason, and everyone's getting mad since Uzushio was allied to us."

Makoto's eyes slowly widened in understanding. He looked at Umiko like it was his first time really seeing her. She felt uncomfortable.

"I only knew about it this morning since it was what everyone kept talking about at breakfast," Rie continued. The hyperactive girl still hadn't noticed Makoto's crestfallen expression. "I asked some matrons and they said the news only came last night."

"Me too," Umiko faintly confessed.

"Huh?"

"I only got here last night."

Rie gaped at her, her eyebrows furrowed.

Makoto slammed his palm into his face. " _Really_ , Rie?"

"What?" the young girl snapped incredulously at the boy before she suddenly went rigid. " _OH!_ ...oh."

"We're really sorry," intoned Makoto, a serious expression on his face.

"Yeah," Rie hastily added, pulling at the straps of her overalls. "I didn't mean to...yeah."

"It's alright," she responded, forcing a smile onto her face.

The three of them fell into an uneasy silence, each child almost frozen as they sat below the tree. Rie and Makoto simultaneously grimaced before sharing meaningful looks, hidden words passing between their expressions. They occasionally glanced at who they now probably thought was the sole survivor of the Land of Whirlpools. ' _Here I go again,'_ Umiko mentally grumbled with a hint of self-mockery while she pretended not to notice. ' _Ruining moods as I go along.'_

' _Let's fix that.'_

"So—" the survivor suddenly blurted out, causing the two to jump. "How do I sign up for the academy?'

" _ **WHAT?!**_ "

"You just lost— _that_ just happened and you're _already_ thinking about becoming a ninja?!" Rie yelled in surprise.

"Are you—" Makoto choked, clutching at his head in alarm. "Are you okay?!"

"I'm not thinking of going around murdering enemy ninja in revenge for my parents, if you were worried," Umiko specified, even as the pair continued to look at her like she was a ticking time bomb. "Or for my village. And my life in general." she added as afterthoughts.

"Are you _**really**_ okay?!"

"...prrroooobably not," Umiko conceded with a grim snort. "Still, I really want this."

"We can take you there tomorrow," Rie responded carefully, nudging the astounded boy across her to get him to stop goggling. "They aren't open on weekends."

Makoto shook himself out of his shock and sighed. "They're always open to more orphans, though," he grumbled.

"More soldiers on the front lines," Rie cheerfully agreed.

Umiko wasn't sure whether to laugh or grimace at that.

"We can...show you that river sometime too, if you want," Makoto offered, looking away. Umiko couldn't help but feel touched.

"That'd be great," she replied, a genuine smile slowly forming on her face.

The silence that followed as they relaxed beneath the tree was much more comfortable. The leaves continued to drift away with the wind.

"Kay', enough of this," said Rie eventually, jumping up from where she sat. Makoto and Umiko followed suit, pulling themselves up and brushing off the leaves on their clothes.

The cheerful academy student-to-be grinned at her, brushing her hair out of her face. "Wanna try playing ninja? I bet we can pester Shiro and his friends over there til' they let us play with them."

Umiko laughed as Makoto suddenly winced. "Sure!"

* * *

Author's Note

Many SIs have a hard time befriending children their own age due to the mental age gap they have with them. Umiko doesn't have that problem...if anything, her sparse memories _encouraged_ her to quickly make new friends.

I'd like to give thanks to everyone who'd followed and favorited the story. I'm especially grateful to RealistIze, Arcane Charmcaster, xXSpades231Xx, Angelicsailor, and a mysterious guest for being the first reviewers of the story!

All questions will be answered in time, I promise. And I apologize to Spades; Enmei did in fact pass away in the prologue. I hope I can somehow still redeem the story in your eyes.


	3. 2 - First Day (Part 1)

Early morning had long past, and so the village was fully awake—the citizens of Konoha were up and about, going to and fro from building to building, handling their duties and chores, and opening up their respective shops, restaurants, and businesses for the rest of the day to come. Wagons and carts were led through different main roads, each carrying either vital supplies or merchandise to trade. When one looked up, it was easy to see shadows jumping from rooftop to rooftop, but the people of Konoha were already well-used to this sight. The spectre of war was nowhere to be found, despite the village's skirmishes with Iwagakure and growing tensions with the other villages...

—at least, for now, Rie reckoned.

"Hurry up!" she yelled, her voice almost lost in the breeze. "We're gonna be late!"

The young orphan sped along through the paved stone streets of the shinobi village with one hand holding onto the straps of her favorite overalls, as they were a little loose on her thin figure. But she didn't care! It was a beautiful morning and a wonderful day because finally, _**finally**_ , she was going to take her first step in becoming a _**real shinobi!**_

...student.

Baby steps, she guessed.

With a swift swing in her step and a sunny smile on her face, though, she was perfectly ready for her first day of class! The wind blowing past her ears and trying to undo the bun in her hair, even as the academy student sprinted along in a hurry, did nothing to bring down her mood.

Although, when it came to her companions...

"And whose fault is that?!" Makoto shouted back from behind her as she pulled him along. Her stern-faced pal was trying and failing to fling his hand away from her own iron-vice grip as she dragged him along, carefully avoiding the cart moving through the center of the road. " _I_ didn't choose to pig out on breakfast!"

' _Why does he always blame me for everything?!'_ "But it tasted great!"

" _But,_ did you _really_ have to eat for two hours straight?!" the thin-eyed boy griped.

"My food is my life!" replied Rie with her head proudly raised. "If there's a Will of Fire, then I have the Will of Food!"

"That doesn't make any—"

"Can we _please_ not do this right now!" a frantic voice interrupted. Rie carefully spared a glance for her other companion. Umiko, the girl who had the pleasure of being her newest friend and second cherished confidant (of which there were only _two_ ), was gasping slightly for breath as she sidestepped the villagers in her path, the wild look on her face only underlining the faint eyebags underneath her eyes.

"I'm with Rie here," Umiko continued with a pant. "Can we get to the academy _now_ and do the comedy session _later_?"

There was a brief pause as the trio went around a large cart pulled along by two great workhorses. "...yeah, alright," said Makoto, warily putting an end to their conversation. Concern bled through his frowning expression, much like it did through her own. At least Umiko seemed too sleepy to notice.

Rie didn't like to linger on things. It wasn't in her nature! If she did, then she'd probably have collapsed into a miserable wreck just because of things like her parents being dead, her lack of options in life as an orphan, her likely death in whatever ninja wars Konoha would get into and having to murder people in the future, she would never get anything done! Like say, making two really great friends! ….yeah, her friends.

Her weak spot. (No one was perfect, anyway. Nor did she really care.)

Although she'd only known Umiko for two months so far, they'd been fast friends—the orphan had been funny, cool, and honestly, one of the cleverest kids she'd ever met aside from herself...but.

While she was really good at hiding things, Rie (and Makoto, once the moron caught on) grew to be just as good at paying attention.

* * *

There were a few scattered signs, here and there.

For example: for the first two weeks or so, Umiko would only eat fish during meals.

Well...okay, that silly Whirlpool girl wouldn't _ONLY_ eat fish all the time. She would also munch on other kinds of seafood, like the occasional treat of shrimp or dried seaweed whenever the matrons could save enough money to splurge a little for their charges. And she would also always get some rice, too.

It was only luck that let Rie realize that Umiko wasn't just being a picky eater. One dinner, as they were sitting at one of the long, long wooden tables in the orphanage's dining area, Shiro and some of the other kids who'd warmed up to the new arrival were trying to offer her some roasted goose meat—now _that_ was a rare delicacy. See, that night, one of the matrons had miraculously managed to haggle for a whole bunch of roasted geese from a nearby cheap eatery. Normally, the orphanage's caretakers only bought some for a new year's celebration. One could see just how precious a luxury it was, right?

And Umiko had just giggled and refused politely, to the playful jeers of all the kids around her. "I'm just not in the mood," she'd said with a shrug, lifting her bowl to her face.

"HA!" Shiro brushed his long bangs out of his eyes and pointed a finger directly at her face. "No way, I bet you're just a wimp cause' you'd never tried any!"

"We didn't really have any geese in Whirlpool, yeah," Umiko had admitted, before her eyes sparked and a wide grin spread across her face. "So why don't you show me how it's done?"

Shiro frowned as the orphans beside him suddenly grinned in understanding. "Huh?"

"Betcha' can't finish three platefuls by yourself."

The kids around the table, including herself and Makoto, let out an interested ' _oooooooooooo'_ at that playful remark.

"Dude, you just gonna take that?" said the smirking boy sitting next to the now riled-up Shiro, smacking him on the shoulder. "From a _girl_?"

"NO WAY!" the orphan suddenly roared. " _ **JUST SIT THERE AND WATCH, NEW KID!"**_

Well, _at least_ Rie had watched as that hotheaded maniac immediately piled on more and more meat onto his plate under the collective cheers of the kids around him when her eyes just happened to catch onto something happening in her rear vision.

Umiko—now completely unnoticed by the orphans around her, Rie had suddenly realized—hesitantly reached out with her chopsticks towards one of the serving plates of roasted goose, barely touched one of the cut portions of meat with the edges of her utensils, then immediately returned her chopsticks to her bowl to place a piece of smoked fish in her mouth.

And, as she stared down at her food, her face had broken into one of the most longing, heartbroken expressions that Rie had ever seen in her life.

She was sure that she wasn't longing for the _fish_. Not exactly.

It was the little things. Like how Umiko eventually tried other kinds of food and grew to like them, but always nibbled on seafood snacks when under stress. Like how she always seemed to carry some smoked fish and dried seaweed in that satchel of hers wherever she went.

Umiko had quirks that were silly to watch but tragic when you sat down and actually thought about it.

There were bigger things, too. Once, very late at night, Rie found herself being shaken awake, her blanket no longer covering her.

"W—wha?"

"Shh…" the shadowy figure had hissed, covering her mouth. "It's me."

Rie pushed the hand away. "Makoto?" she'd whispered back, a note of irritation in her voice. "Why the heck did you wake me up?"

"I—look," the orphan mumbled. She could barely see his worried face underneath the concealing darkness. "It's Umiko."

And she suddenly understood.

The pair of orphans found her, after making sure not to wake the other snoring orphans still snoring on the random futons scattered about, at the corner of the crowded room. The poor girl was trembling in her sleep—softly, almost silently sobbing. Her blanket had fallen off her short frame and she shivered in the darkness.

"I woke up a couple of minutes ago to this," Makoto murmured. "The others can't seem to hear her."

Rie carefully sat beside her pained friend, and Makoto followed. "I guess your light sleeper-ness was good for something," she quietly remarked.

"I'm worried that this might've been going on for longer than just tonight."

She'd just sighed in response. What else could she have possibly said? At the time, they'd both known that it had only been a month since the attack. The two of them looked down at her in sympathy.

In hindsight, the two of them had shown quite a lot of care for someone they had only known for a month, but the girl had somehow snuck into their dynamic and fit in with them snugly. The other girls thought she was too wild and the boys thought he was too stern, and so the pair of orphans had ended up sticking together...for the longest time, that was how it went. They'd only had each other.

Sure, both Rie and Makoto had other friends in the orphanage, whom they occasionally played with. Even so, no one really _got_ them or really treated them as a part of their group. Not without a lack of trying...Rie didn't like to think about the times she'd tried to fit in a bit more with the girls who fawned over "cute boys" and thought she was messy, dark, and secretly a boy under her clothes. _Jerks_.

But Umiko never judged. Makoto went on and on and on and on about his weapons and forging techniques and ore types and smithing and she found that cool. Rie would jump and run and swing on trees and play in the dirt and she also found that cool. Sure, she'd make sarcastic, sly jokes and have her own fun, but she never meant them harm.

Umiko thought they were cool.

They put her blanket back in place, that night—and did so for the next couple of nights, too. They also yelled at her when, after they eventually asked her if she was alright, the stubborn survivor just tried to brush the question off and distract them as usual instead of actually giving them an answer.

That had been an interesting day.

Although Umiko's nightmares had lessened over time, they still bothered her sleep every other day or so. Like last night! Poor Umiko was sleep deprived way too often. But yeah, at least that was something they could handle.

Yeah, so there were different signs the pair had learned to pick up on—habits, triggers, and quirks that Umiko needed their support with. As the two of them learned more about them, their self-imposed task of snapping Umiko out of her homesickness and grief grew easier and easier.

They should've guessed, however, that there was a chance that Umiko's obsession with suppressing her feelings would end up causing issues.

They... _really_ should've guessed, because _**holy cow.**_

See, there eventually came an _incident_.

* * *

"You bunch of stalkers are kinda creepy," was all that Umiko said after Natsu and his "friends" suddenly jumped out from the nearby underbrush and surrounded the three of them in the span of seconds. The two of them had been leading her deeper into the woods that covered the outer orphanage grounds, as they had wanted to show her a few nice spots they'd found when they'd gone adventuring before—quiet, calm clearings, a grove of trees all saddled with bird nests, an especially large tree taller than the orphanage building, but well…

Rie's eyes darted around for any openings they could use to escape, but the thugs circled them, pushing forward step-by-step, advancing closer. Her heart pounded as she stepped back, knocking into the person behind her—and a warm, steady hand on her shoulder was all it took to calm her down. Oh, what would she do without Makoto, honestly?

"I'm not stupid," growled the imposing head bully as he and his buddies cracked their knuckles. "Maybe you could get away by making everyone watch, or by hiding near the matrons, or by sneaking out when you thought no one was looking, but I'm not stupid." Natsu sneered. "You can't run away this time."

There were six kids around them, versus them three. Natsu's group was filled with strong and burly boys, and they were outnumbered two to one…

"You know, you two have also been skimping out on us ever since this _Whirlpool hick_ joined you, which kinda sucks." Natsu grinned a nasty smile riddled with holes from missing teeth. "Makoto, you're one of the few kids with actual money, so you know—"

"What do you want, Natsu?" Makoto interjected, his voice and face as flat as ever. His hand did not move from her shoulder.

Umiko just let out a tired sigh. A tree's shadow, lengthened by the afternoon sun, blanketed her face. "Yeah," she added. "Just get to the point already."

"Stinkin' outsider," the bully suddenly hissed before he moved forward and pushed Umiko to the ground, his thuggish friends cheering.

" _Umiko!"_

"Ouch," she intoned dryly.

"I knew there was somethin' weird about you when I first saw you," Natsu snarled, standing over her. He grabbed the front of her shirt and lifted her until they were face to face. "You think you can just come in here and act like you own the place?"

"...do I really act like that?"

The thuggish orphan growled in annoyance. "Shut up _, foreigner_."

Umiko blinked. "...huh, ' _gaijin,'_ " she said aloud, sounding out the insult. "True enough, I guess."

"You—" The bully took a breath to steady himself. Rie found herself almost impressed, if she weren't so distressed. Umiko really had a talent for getting under people's skin. "You don't belong here," Natsu spat, spittle spraying onto Umiko's face.

To Rie's amazement, she somehow only looked bored...as though being at the mercy of someone so much bigger than her was only a minor inconvenience. But she knew that confidence was fake.

"Okay, I don't belong here," the Whirlpool survivor replied flatly. "I'm still here. I _can't_ go away, even if I wanted to. What do you want from me?"

Natsu grumbled at her tone for a brief moment. "I want you to treat me like I'm the boss," he continued, another cruel grin splitting into his face.

"You're the boss," the unimpressed girl mumbled in response.

"Really?" he retorted, still grinning that same smile and immediately ringing warning bells in Rie's head. She had a bad feeling about this. "Then you wouldn't mind if I got somethin' from you?"

Umiko's nonchalant expression finally cracked as her eyes widened in alarm. "Wait—" she pleaded, trying to push herself out of his grip.

The bulky boy simply ignored her. He bent down and grabbed the satchel hanging from her shoulder, pushing it open. "I'm sure you've got good stuff in here somewhere," he muttered, rummaging around before he pulled something out. "What's this old thing?"

It was her compass.

Rie had felt a chill run through her body. It was a battered, somewhat rusted, but still functional old tool—and the only thing Umiko would tell them was the fact that it had been her _father's_.

Umiko tensed. The survivor's eyes suddenly narrowed, her gaze turning sharp. It was startling to see how such a minor change in expression managed to completely transform her...it was almost like Rie was looking at an entirely different person.

The terrified orphan had never seen that look on her friend's face before. It almost seemed _predatory_.

"Let go of my compass," the survivor murmured.

Natsu snorted. "Why? Does it—"

" _Let go or_ _**I'll fucking make you."**_

The bully seemed to be taken aback for a moment before he let out a laugh. "You think I'm scared of a—"

Umiko broke his jaw.

She suddenly jumped up, punched him so hard that a tooth fell out of his mouth, then quickly slammed him into the ground, face first. He was out cold right away.

It had happened so fast. Rie was frozen.

"BOSS!" The other kids immediately rushed straight for the Whirlpool survivor. Makoto grabbed one of them and got him into a bear hug, his hours of labor giving him an edge when the boy struggled to escape. Rie just stood there in shock, completely aghast as four bullies tried to beat up a lone girl in retaliation for their friend...and steadily failed.

One kicked her in the gut, and Umiko elbowed him in the throat so swiftly that he fell in the blink of an eye. Another tried to grab her from behind, and she headbutted him in the face then socked him in the nose. The last two boys tried to strike her at the same time, and the girl just _grit her teeth and took the hits_ before slamming into one, shoulder first to tackle him to the ground. She then knee'd the other in the crotch before he could react.

The Whirlpool survivor was dirty, furious fighter with no hesitation—a brawler in every sense of the word. These boys, who were so used to pushing people around due to their numbers and their sizes, had no chance whatsoever. She pushed in on her opponents and pummelled them when they were down, only lightly wincing as the others rained hits on her or grabbed her other limbs. She wasn't afraid to target areas that allowed for the most damage as long as it took her opponents out of the fight. Umiko punched, kicked, shoved, slammed, and even _bit_ her adversaries just to get them to back down.

And all the while she was roaring.

" _YOU SHITHEADS HAVE OBVIOUSLY NEVER BEEN IN A REAL FIGHT! YOU COULDN'T EVEN TOUCH ME IN MY SLEEP!"_

" _YOU CALL THAT A PUNCH?! THE ROTTING CORPSES OF THE NINJA WHO KILLED MY PARENTS COULD PROBABLY HIT HARDER THAN THAT, AND_ _ **THEY'RE DEAD!"**_

" _SO YOU BITCHES GET HIGH ON FUCKING WITH PEOPLE FOR NO GOOD REASON AND NO ONE'S EVER STOPPED YOU BEFORE_ — _ **well TOUGH SHIT NOW, HUH?! YOU DIDN'T QUIT WHILE YOU STILL COULD!"**_

" _Wanna see something cool?"_ Umiko muttered with a sharp, furious sneer from what Rie could see. She held the last boy down with her arm, all the others either curled up on the ground in pain or having stepped away out of fear.

She brought her hand, held strangely rigid and straight, right next to his throat. " _My mother died_ _ **just like this,**_ _except the ninja had a knife on him."_

The poor bully (and Rie never thought she'd ever pity a bully) gulped.

The Whirlpool survivor laughed a harrowing, broken chortle. **"** _ **You think I could still pull it off?"**_

"...Umiko."

Rie looked to the side to see Makoto and the bully he'd been holding standing side by side, watching the survivor carefully. Though he had a stern, steady expression, his face was as pale as the boy beside him.

"I think that's enough," Makoto spoke, with a measured tone.

Umiko turned to look at him, and Rie managed to get a closer look at the wrathful orphan. Her eyes were dark and unwilling even as a black eye and a cheek bruise formed on the left side of her face. Her breaths came in short, sharp bursts—it was obvious that she was exhausted from all the fighting. Blood steadily dripped down from her torn knuckles, spilling onto the ground. And who knew what other wounds she'd manage to collect throughout her entire body?

She stared at him with those narrow, steel eyes and for a heartbeat Rie thought that she would start attacking him, too. Then the survivor let go of the boy she was holding down and stood up with a slight limp.

" _Get up,"_ she grumbled.

The bully, still incredibly shaken, rose to his feet and quickly ran off to join his other terrified friends. The pale-faced orphan whom Makoto had handled also joined their side.

" _Get your boss and friends."_

They did so.

" _Go."_ She tilted her head to the side.

" _ **And don't ever fuck with me again."**_

They fled.

Umiko watched them as they ran through the bushes and rushed through the trees, heading straight back to the orphanage. Her eyes remained harsh and narrow, and her body was still tense—as though she was still trapped in the throes of her fight. Rie and Makoto shared a look as the battered and bleeding Whirlpool survivor limped towards her compass, which had been left haphazardly on the ground, and retrieved it with a tenderness that surprised the both of them.

She clutched it to her chest and began to sob.

* * *

After... _that_ , Natsu and his group of bullies never bothered the three of them (or anyone else, really). To the matrons, who only saw an incident where six boys tried to beat up three kids in an attempt to steal an orphan's only family possession, this was a sign of their successful attempt to reprimand the group of unruly boys. In their eyes, they had finally managed to convince those bullies to turn over a new leaf. Hooray for half-hearted attempts at parenting!

To almost everyone else, though, it was the start of a legend about how one girl somehow managed to take on six kids on her own without having the slightest drop of chakra, while only getting a limp and a couple of bruises in return. Of course, it was more like a million bruises, and Makoto did help with that one bully, but kids liked to exaggerate, right?

Many of the other orphans grew a lot more respectful of the Whirlpool immigrant, while others were even unnerved and kept their distance for a while. Either way, the injured girl still acted the same way to everyone.

…...okay, that wasn't entirely true.

See, to Rie, Makoto, and Umiko, the incident was a bit of a turning point with their friendship.

After several minutes of sobbing, Umiko had eventually began to chuckle. The two of them hadn't kept their distance—instead, they'd sat down right beside her the entire time. They both knew what she had been going through. How couldn't they? How couldn't any kid in the entire orphanage?

"Ah shit," she'd suddenly muttered. "One of those fucking assholes got me in the knee. Hurts like hell."

"You swear like a sailor," Makoto calmly noted. The early afternoon sun shone down on his head, highlighting the midnight blue in his hair.

"Heh, funny that you say that," the orphan replied, rubbing at her eyes with her free hand as the other still firmly clenched her precious compass. "I actually sorta was one."

"...really?" Rie quietly asked. It was the first thing she'd said since the bullies had surrounded them.

"Yeah...kinda? Do fishermen count?" Umiko scratched at her head. "I guess you guys deserve to know the full story by now...or most of it, anyway."

Her being the daughter of a fisherman in a fishing village came as no surprise (Umiko was such an addict to seafood, no matter what form it took). The part about her beginning to pick up the basics of sailing at the tender age of three was a bit more shocking, but Rie'd always known that Umiko was too clever for her own good, so that made sense. The story about what led to her lucky escape was _heartbreaking…_

Rie thought back to how her own parents d— _ **no.**_ No she didn't. Rie didn't linger on things, it wasn't her style!

But honestly, how terrified Umiko must've felt...her uncle and father sacrificed themselves to save her, and her mother was murdered right in front of her. Only the fact that she was a decent sailor and that she had somehow run into an Uzu ninja on his last legs was what had saved her...no wonder she had so much trouble sleepi—

"Rie, we're here."

The orphan was jolted out of her thoughts. The three of them had kept running at a steady pace, and now they slowly approached the towering gate into the academy grounds. Past the gate were the wide, multi-floor buildings that made up the actual academy.

Rie grinned. Yeah, she was done "lingering" and thinking for the day. After waiting for so long, it was finally time for her first step on becoming a real shinobi!

* * *

"...for each of us are connected by the Will of Fire, all an integral member of Konohagakure. Our ties bind us tightly and will thus ensure your success going forward as the future shinobi of our humble village…"

Rie let out a long loose sigh, slumping her shoulders forward. She, her two friends, and the rest of the academy students stood outside the main academy building in the bright sunlight, all of them crowding around as that old man prattled on and on onstage. At least they were at the back, so could stay a little bit away from all the other kids who had to bunch up together. "I can't believe we got here before the Hokage's boring speech was over," she mumbled bitterly under her breath.

"You were aiming for that the entire time, huh?" Umiko muttered with a snort, standing directly at her right. She seemed to be scanning the crowd instead of paying attention to the opening ceremony.

"...no," the dejected girl replied. "I really was hungry."

Her dark-haired friend, who obviously had no idea what she was talking about (shut up brain), simply rolled her eyes before retorting. "I'm sure."

"Keep it down, you two," Makoto whispered, squinting at the Hokage as he gave his speech. The weirdo, who insisted on staying in front of her so he could get closer to the stage, was actually paying attention to that showy old man. Just look at him, with his graying goatee, white robes and fancy-looking Kage hat! Ugh.

She was bored. _SO BORED_. She couldn't just stand here waiting for this to end!

...even if that was exactly what all the other kids around her were doing.

Her eyes drifted downwards. Hmm...Makoto was still fingering the steel kunai sheathed into his belt, even as he attentively listened to the speech.

"Psssst...Makoto," she whispered. The silly boy ignored her and continued to stare determinedly at the old man. "Makoto. _Makoooootooooooooooooo~_ "

"What?!" the thin-eyed orphan finally hissed back.

"Can I borrow your kunai?"

"No way!"

"I'll return it to you after."

"No! It isn't even mine yet!" Makoto massaged his temples in annoyance. "The old man only lent it to me so I could practice with one outside class!"

A soft snigger from the side startled the two orphans. "So why'd you bring it with you to the academy?" asked Umiko with a sly grin.

Makoto looked away, his face turning red. At this, the mischievous orphan crossed her arms and tilted her head to the side.

"You also brought your whetstone, didn't you?"

"..."

"Man, I'm sure you don't just bring those around as good luck charms. Were you gonna try to sharpen the kunai in class, you weapon maniac?"

' _K.O.'_ intoned Rie mentally with a wince as Makoto covered his face with his hands. Umiko might not have known Makoto as long as she had, but two months had been more than long enough for the impish immigrant to notice his obsession with weapons...

"Oh jeez," Umiko actually began to laugh. "I was joking—you were _seriously_ thinking of doing that? What, you think whoever's teaching wouldn't hear the scraping?"

"Shut up," mumbled the embarrassed blacksmith's apprentice from behind his hands.

"Why the heck didn't you just sharpen that thing yesterday, when you got it?"

" _Shut. Up."_

Umiko really had no mercy, beating on him while he's down...but still—an opportunity arose. "So can I borrow it?" asked Rie with a hint of sweetness in her tone, edging closer to him.

"Yeah, sure," he responded, his voice still somewhat muffled. She quickly grabbed the weapon from his belt before stepping backwards for some space.

Rie brought the kunai closer to her face for her to examine it. It seemed pretty well-made and without any obvious scratches or marks, just like she'd expect from an old blacksmith like Isamu. It was still dull, of course—the kunai would probably be less useful for slashing and stabbing than it would be for whacking someone over the head as it was right now. Still, the bored orphan gave it a few swings for the heck of it.

She gave it a toss into the air, and caught it as it came down. The weight it had in her hand was pretty solid. She gave it a few more tosses, catching it easily each time. She was about to try for a flip when she suddenly heard someone clear their throat from behind her. The bewildered orphan turned around.

A middle-aged man with a crew-cut stood behind her, his arms crossed. Scowling. Rie felt her heart drop when she saw the forehead protector and the flak jacket he wore. The sudden yelp from behind her told her that at least Makoto had noticed his presence, too.

"...hello, sir," she said faintly.

"Hello, new student," the instructor replied gravely.

"Er…"

"The use of student-owned weapons for class is not allowed unless one has permission from the instructor handling the use of weapons," he continued. The shinobi's gaze sharpened. "Seeing as today is the very first day of class, I'm certain that you have not yet met your assigned weapons instructor."

"I...uh," Rie faltered.

"Sensei, the kunai is mine," Makoto suddenly interjected, stepping forward beside her. Rie was shocked. He was actually willing to take the blame in her place? She suddenly felt bad for all the times she'd pestered him recently.

The shinobi nodded his head. "Very well. Unfortunately, the use of weapons outside of weapon class on school grounds is also not allowed, unless one has permission from an instructor."

Rie and Makoto both hung their heads in shame. Then came the tell-tale sound of someone slapping their face from behind her—so Umiko _had_ been paying attention…

"Come with me for a discussion of infractions," ordered the shinobi with a dissatisfied frown. "You two will be slightly late for your first classes."

"Yes, sir," both Rie and Makoto responded dejectedly.

With a sigh, Rie glanced behind her to see Umiko gaping in complete exasperation.

" _Seriously?_ "

"...just, save us some seats, Umiko," Makoto grumbled from beside her.

And so the two went on their way.

* * *

Umiko nervously checked the sign marking the classroom above the door to make sure it was correctly labelled 'C' before heading inside. ' _Those two morons,'_ she mentally grumbled to herself, ignoring the looks from the kids who were around to see Rie and Makoto's mishap as she walked through the door. ' _I really should've kept an eye on Rie, considering how she has the attention span of a kitten on catnip. But what kind of idiot gets in trouble on the first day of school?'_

" _Lynn Tremblay, please report to the principal's office immediately," announced the loudspeaker to the entire classroom._

 _Lynn groaned even as Kay frowned at her disapprovingly. "I_ told _you that challenging Dave to that one-on-one fight on_ _ **literally the first day of class**_ _was a stupid idea!"_

" _He started it!"_

….never mind.

The orphan quickly sized up the classroom's layout. There were four wide steps of some sort of wide ascending staircase set-up, each step holding three broad wooden tables—enough to seat nine students, from the number of stools each table had. So exactly thirty-six students was the classroom's full capacity...well, she would see if that was a full class in a short while.

There weren't many kids in the classroom yet, and thus not many seats or tables taken, so Umiko easily chose the middle table from the backmost row. She placed her satchel on the table before sitting down with a sigh. There wasn't much she could do before class started besides hoping that the teacher got here faster. She did bring a notebook and some pencils...maybe she could doodle for a bit?

"WHADDYA MEAN DOGS AREN'T ALLOWED!"

Or she could watch a show.

At the front of the classroom and right beside the door, a girl with the messiest and spikiest hair that she had ever seen and strange triangular tattoos on her face was glaring at another kid. At her feet was a dark-furred puppy with a white underside, who was also staring fixedly at its owner's opponent. And were _both_ of them growling?

"I mean, I _refuse_ to believe that pets are allowed in this academy," answered the boy she was arguing with. Huh. She had seen this boy a while ago, from the crowd. He had stood out due to his unusually long hair—even as it was tied together with a loose, thick braid, it somehow still extended past his shoulders. Since Umiko had only seen him from behind, she hadn't been able to spot his faded, pupiless white eyes…

" _Please," said Lynn with a snort at her friends' eerie expressions. "Neji's eyes are creepy as shit."_

Neji...she remembered the name Neji…and maybe Kiba? She was on the verge of remembering something important. It was on the tip of her mind...

"Now ya' listen here, punk—" the girl raged, baring her... _were those fangs?!_ "Kuromaru here ain't just some fancy schmancy pet I carry along everywhere! He's my _**PARTNER**_ , and ya' better show some respect!"

"Hmph." The boy sounded with disdain. "Dogs are pets," he declared. "It is as simple as that."

Kuromaru barked angrily as though in response to that statement. Its partner seemed to be tempted to do so herself, even as she continued to growl. "I'm an Inuzuka!" she yelled. "You think Kuromaru's some kind of lapdog? Haven't you ever seen a ninken before, dumbass?!"

' _Inuzuka...the Inuzuka clan and their ninja dogs!'_ Umiko's eyes widened in realization as she continued to watch their standoff. ' _So that other guy—'_

"...perhaps not, but that changes little," the boy announced with an air of elegant arrogance.

"Ugh, even when you're wrong, you Hyuga never stop being so stuck-up!"

' _The Hyuga clan and their Byakugan and specialized taijutsu...right, right. Okay.'_ Umiko smirked sardonically at her own idiocy. She had remembered the existence of the Byakugan and of ninken, and even of the clans that lived in Konoha, but she hadn't quite put them together once confronted with their actual existence. It really sucked that her memories were so scattered.

' _Gotta remember the other clans,'_ the orphan thought to herself as she ignored the two academy student's continuing standoff. ' _There was the Uchiha, with the spinning Sharingan eyes and hatred thing, the Nara with shadow stuff, the..Akimichi? Yeah, Akimichi with a food focus…I think?'_

"If you really insist on having your dog join you in class, I suppose you will at least clean up after it when it dirties itself in the classroom."

"OH, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!"

' _The Yamanaka and...was it mind reading or body jacking? Both? Eh, whatever. There was also another clan that had insects, right? What were they called again?'_

"Is that a yes?"

"GIVE ME A BREAK, YOU PIECE OF—"

"Excuse me. Both of you are blocking the door."

Umiko looked up to see the now two very confused clan students being interrupted by a short-haired boy who wore sunglasses indoors for some reason. Save for a bit of his face, his body was covered from head to toe, mainly because of a loose looking jacket with a high collar. He also wore a deep green scarf, strangely enough.

' _...Aburame,'_ Umiko thought to herself as she suppressed a chuckle at the sight below her. The Aburame boy casually pushed the two bewildered kids to the side, allowing a large number of nervous looking students waiting outside to enter the room before wordlessly taking a seat in the front row. ' _They were called the Aburame clan, and that one guy in the story looked almost just like that.'_

She guessed that most of the normal, clanless kids wisely did not want to get in the middle of that argument. Good on that Aburame kid to clear the way for their sake—he could have just walked right through the pair of feuding kids, after all.

Umiko kept an eye open for anyone else who stood out amongst the crowd of students, and once again she was reminded of just how different Konoha was to Kagayaku...or Earth. People came in so many shapes and colors, unlike her lost home village and especially the more monochrome world her past self lived in. Black and brown were normal hair colors, but blond, blue, silvery white, dark purple, deep orange—there was even a boy with pink hair who had somehow molded it into a weird, gravity defying five-pointed star hairstyle! It was ridiculous.

She at least managed to pinpoint a pair of chubby twins who had matching hollow circle tattoos on their cheeks and a solitary, plain-looking girl with long black hair. Their clothes all carried unique symbols, much like how that Inuzuka, Hyuga and Aburame kids did, so she supposed they were also members of different clans. Going by the stereotypes she remembered, the twins must be Akimichi while the girl must be a Nara...or maybe a Yamanaka. She couldn't remember if all Yamanaka clan members had blonde hair, or if it was just that one girl from the show.

Umiko also kept an eye open for Rie and Makoto, but they weren't in the crowd. A glance at the clock above the blackboard revealed that the official start to homeroom was fast approaching. Seems like the duo of orphans really would be late—how late they would be remained to be seen.

Much to Umiko's disappointment, the heated argument between the Hyuga boy and the Inuzuka girl had simmered down into a quiet yet intense staredown. Man, she was hoping she'd at least see how the Byakugan looked like when not rendered as art, but whatever. The bored orphan was even more disappointed when a scarred yet kindly-looking woman wearing Konoha's distinctive forehead protector walked in.

"Ah, good morning class!" greeted the teacher. "Welcome to your first day of—" she blinked, suddenly realizing that two of her students were still standing at the front of the room. "Um, please go to your seats."

The Whirlpool survivor snorted at the look of irritation on both of the clan kids' faces. Seemed like she wasn't the only one disappointed in the anticlimactic end to their argument.

As the two children moved to some empty seats (at the opposite sides of the room, Umiko noted), the teacher sighed before resuming her matronly smile. "Right, as I was saying, welcome to your first day of academy training! I am Watanabe-sensei, and I will be both your homeroom and history teacher for your first year. Now, first, I will explain what your classes will entail…"

Umiko froze as the memories of every class orientation that Lynn had ever attended suddenly flashed through her mind. ' _...well, this is gonna suck.'_

* * *

Author's Note:

So...it's been a while, huh?

To be honest, this was supposed to be one whole chapter, but not only was it getting too long, it's also been months since the last update. I'd like to think anyone who'd reviewed, followed, and favorited the story while I was gone! Hopefully the next chapter won't take as long.

...also Spades, if you're still around, I'm so sorry. I did, in fact, end up slamming your heads with a timeskip so soon into the story :/


End file.
